Maria Diaz/ZDNET
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ZDNET's key takeaways
Roku, Fire, and Chromecast TVs may collect viewing, usage, and screen‑content data.
You can disable or limit data collection via privacy/ACR settings.
Full privacy requires disconnecting the TV from the internet entirely.
Whenever I hear about consumer data tracking, my half-century-old brain dredges up that Hall and Oates hit called "Private Eyes" with the refrain "they're watching you."
I don't mean to incite Big Brother paranoia; I know I'm not being spied on everywhere I go, especially not in the seclusion of my home. But while using streaming devices, you can almost guarantee that your entertainment and advertisement preferences are being tracked.
Also: I changed 6 settings on my Roku TV to significantly improved the performance
The culprit is better known as Big Data -- arguably less invasive and sinister, but still annoying to some people -- and there are ways to mitigate that on your streaming devices if you're one of them.
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