Research from Northeastern University reveals that Samsung's Tizen, Vizio OS, and Roku OS continue sending data to ACR endpoints even after users opt out of tracking. The study examined 12 smart TVs from 10 manufacturers, conducting 5,943 controlled experiments to analyze when Automatic Content Recognition activates. ACR captures video screenshots and audio clips to measure viewership and serve targeted ads.
While Roku's behavior appears disclosed in terms of service, Samsung and Vizio TVs exhibit suspicious continued traffic across multiple usage scenarios. Encryption prevented researchers from determining exact data contents, but traffic patterns consistent with ACR tracking after opt-out suggest potential privacy violations. Lead author Ilgar Mammadov noted the tested OSes cover approximately 95% of US smart TV market share, though individual implementations vary significantly.
Source: Ars Technica · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing