My sister's inlaws had a party line phone well into the 90's. The phone company eventually gave them and their neighbor their own lines without a price increase.
What was the the last audio-related item you purchased?
- Thread starter Romeo Wolf
- Start date
We've got an Echo Dot "Alexa," probably first generation, Christmas gift. Use it at night to listen to New Hampshire Public Radio (just out of reach on terrestrial radio), CBC1 and BBC Radio 4. Pretty sure you can turn the mic off. Pretty sure 
We won an Alexa at a Christmas Party several years ago... it never came out of its box, we use it as a door stop !
I wouldn't trust Alexa or anything else these days. They make it harder and harder to disable intrusion.
Most people don't know that virtually all modern TV's are constantly screenscraping everything you watch, even if it's from a VHS player, or your own camera connected via HDMI).
Below is a cut & paste of an AI summary of TV monitoring. AI can be flawed obviously -- but if you research you'll find that it's true
Virtually all major modern smart TV brands use a technology called Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) to snapshot, analyze, and track what is on your screen. Instead of uploading literal video files, the TV’s internal chipset captures visual or audio frames every few seconds (or milliseconds, depending on the model), converts them into a compact digital "fingerprint," and matches it against a massive database to log exactly what you are watching. [1, 2, 3]
Crucially, ACR tracks everything that crosses the glass, including streaming apps, cable boxes, video games, or laptops plugged in via HDMI. [1, 2]
Which Brands Track Your Screen?
Manufacturers hide this tracking under proprietary, customer-friendly names within their privacy settings: [1]
Samsung - Viewing Information Services - Transmits data fingerprints up to every 500 milliseconds. Lawsuits in late 2025 by the Texas Attorney General over deceptive tracking forced a major settlement in 2026 to clarify their opt-out forms.
LG - Live Plus / Viewing Information Agreement- Captures snapshots as frequently as every 10 to 15 seconds. Recent independent testing highlights heavy background data logging and telemetry.
Sony - Samba Interactive TV- Partners with a third-party company called Samba TV to run its automated screen scraping and build ad-targeting profiles.
Vizio - Viewing Data - Formerly known as "Smart Interactivity". Vizio pioneered this practice and was fined by the FTC back in 2017 for tracking users without consent.
Roku- Smart TV Experience- Used by Roku-branded TVs and licensing partners (like TCL or Hisense models running Roku OS). Explicitly notes that it tracks connected HDMI inputs.
Amazon Fire TV- Automatic Content Recognition - Used on Amazon's own TVs and brands utilizing Fire TV software (such as Panasonic).
How to Stop It
Most people don't know that virtually all modern TV's are constantly screenscraping everything you watch, even if it's from a VHS player, or your own camera connected via HDMI).
Below is a cut & paste of an AI summary of TV monitoring. AI can be flawed obviously -- but if you research you'll find that it's true
Virtually all major modern smart TV brands use a technology called Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) to snapshot, analyze, and track what is on your screen. Instead of uploading literal video files, the TV’s internal chipset captures visual or audio frames every few seconds (or milliseconds, depending on the model), converts them into a compact digital "fingerprint," and matches it against a massive database to log exactly what you are watching. [1, 2, 3]
Crucially, ACR tracks everything that crosses the glass, including streaming apps, cable boxes, video games, or laptops plugged in via HDMI. [1, 2]
Which Brands Track Your Screen?
Manufacturers hide this tracking under proprietary, customer-friendly names within their privacy settings: [1]
Samsung - Viewing Information Services - Transmits data fingerprints up to every 500 milliseconds. Lawsuits in late 2025 by the Texas Attorney General over deceptive tracking forced a major settlement in 2026 to clarify their opt-out forms.
LG - Live Plus / Viewing Information Agreement- Captures snapshots as frequently as every 10 to 15 seconds. Recent independent testing highlights heavy background data logging and telemetry.
Sony - Samba Interactive TV- Partners with a third-party company called Samba TV to run its automated screen scraping and build ad-targeting profiles.
Vizio - Viewing Data - Formerly known as "Smart Interactivity". Vizio pioneered this practice and was fined by the FTC back in 2017 for tracking users without consent.
Roku- Smart TV Experience- Used by Roku-branded TVs and licensing partners (like TCL or Hisense models running Roku OS). Explicitly notes that it tracks connected HDMI inputs.
Amazon Fire TV- Automatic Content Recognition - Used on Amazon's own TVs and brands utilizing Fire TV software (such as Panasonic).
How to Stop It
- Disable ACR in Settings: Go to your TV's Settings > Privacy menu. Uncheck or toggle off the specific feature name listed in the table above. Studies show that toggling these off successfully stops the specific ACR tracking network traffic. [1, 2, 3]
- Disconnect from Wi-Fi: If you want absolute privacy, pull the TV off your network entirely. Use a more privacy-focused external streaming device (like an Apple TV) for your apps, treating your smart TV as a "dumb" monitor. [1, 2]
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Ah c'mon ain't buying that.
I'll take a pic... gimme a sec!
Those speakers look fricken awesome!!!
That’s too bad.
It is NEVER coming out
We don't want to be bothered by all the SPY crap they have embedded in those things, and If I'm too lazy or old to get up and do something myself then it's time to put me in a home !
Let’s hope you don’t become handicapped then.
Too late, I'm already there ! Titanium rods in my back, two metal knees, and fake teeth--call me "Steve Austin"
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Let’s hope you don’t end up in a wheelchair like me. I’ll take all the assistance I can get. But that’s just me.
Better, stronger, faster -- I used to love that show! I wonder what I'd think of it now (haven't seen it since it originally aired).
Amen.