Is Your TV Watching You While You Watch it?
Did you get your privacy notebook?
I’m going to assume you did for today’s lesson. If not, go and get yourself one. Any kind of notebook will do, but as I explained, we have our preference for you to use.
After you write down your passwords, the next thing to document in your notebook is all the devices in your home that connect to the Internet.
Write down their make, their model, and their current OS. This stuff is usually accessible in the Settings section on most devices.
Now, listen, this step is particularly important if you own a Smart TV.
These devices, like many others in your home, often come with cameras and microphones that you may not know about.
So, we’re writing all this information down because you’ll need it when you google how to deactivate the camera and microphone in these devices.
That’s exactly what you’re going to do after you have itemized all your devices. In the settings, you should also be able to opt-out of any data collection done by your device as well, so make sure you do that.
Finally, if you have a Smart TV, you’ll want to turn off the TV’s Internet service capabilities.
Instead, use something like a Roku Stick to stream to your device.
Here’s what that looks like:
- Go get a Roku Stuck.
- Install a VPN on your laptop and phone, and then stream from either device, through the VPN, to your television using the Roku Stick.
While not perfect, this is a better and more secure alternative than what’s provided by your Smart TV.
Read this post and more on my Typeshare Social Blog
