By William D. Slicker
Your smart devices are always listening to you and watching you.
Recently, I was talking with a friend at her home when Alexa+ added to the conversation. Alexa+ had been listening. Like Siri or Google Assistant, she is always listening. She knows what you like and do not like. She has your voice recorded.
Your smart TV is also spying on you.[1] Nearly three-fourths of U.S. households have a Smart TV with ACR.[2] “Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) captures everything on your screen, not just TV shows, but also YouTube videos, security or doorbell camera streams, and video or photos you send via Apple AirPlay or GoogleCast and from other devices connected to your TV by HDMI, including personal laptops, video game consoles, and Blue-ray players.”[3] This ACR data is worth much more than the Smart TVs themselves, which is why the price of the TVs has been coming down so much.[4] From the data, ACR makes inferences about the consumers’ race, sex, religious, and political beliefs.[5]
We may have surpassed the world presented in George Orwell’s “1984” in which
“The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it: moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard.”[6]
“The average American citizen is arguably already more surveilled than Winston Smith. We are subject to at least as many hours of screen messages intended to manipulate and convince, and ones of much greater sophistication than the crude newsflashes Winston saw. Many people have multiple microphones and cameras in their homes that are connected to corporations that harvest data from them. People carry phones wherever they go that identify them and broadcast their location; this information is extracted by corporations throughout the day. The government meanwhile, has their own cameras, connected to computer systems with facial recognition capabilities O’Brien never imagined.”[7]
Some entities are trying to regain some control over people’s personal data.
In 2017, the FTC sued Vizio for collecting consumer data without the consumers’ consent. Vizia settled the suit by paying $2.2 million to the FTC and the State of New Jersey.[8]
In 2025, the Attorney General of Texas sued Sony, LG, Samsung, TCL, and Hisense for deceptive trade practices for secretly collecting consumer data through Automatic Content Recognition (ACR). In January, 2026, the trial court issued a temporary restraining order.[9]
In February, 2026, Samsung agreed to stop using ACR without consumers’ informed consent.[10]
In May, 2026, LG agreed to stop using ACR without consumers’ informed consent.[11]
License plate tracking cameras have become a vast surveillance network recording everywhere you go. The largest company is Flock Safety which has over 120,000 cameras in 49 states.
Due to concerns about privacy and police misuse of the cameras, some people are rallying against license plate tracking cameras, holding “Get the Flock Out” signs.[12] (A sheriff’s deputy in Jackson County, Indiana used flock cameras to conduct 2,055 searches of his girlfriend’s license plate)[13] Even Florida’s Department of Transportation has ordered Flock cameras removed from state roads.[14]
As an individual, you should probably turn off ACR on Smart TVs. There are sites that tell you how to turn it off.[15] Or perhaps, like Winston, you could learn to love Big Brother.
[1] Cericola, Rachel; Chase, John, and Neikirk, Lee, “Yes, Your TV is Probably Spying on You. Your Fridge Too. Here’s What They Know.” The New York Times (June 25, 2025) https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/advice-smart-devices-data-tracking/.
[2] Cericola, ibid.
[3] State of Texas v. LG Electronics U.S.A., Inc., Case No. 067-372971-25 (Dist. Ct. Tarrant County, Texas, 2025).
[4] State of Texas v. LG Electronics U.S.A., ibid.
[5] State of Texas v. LG Electronics U.S.A., ibid.
[6] Orwell, George (pin name of Eric Arthur Blair) “1984” Mariner, 1949, Berkeley 2023.
[7] Newman, Sandra, 75th Anniversary Forward to 1984
[8] FTC, “Vizio to pay $2.2 million to FTC, State of New Jersey to Settle Charges It Collected Viewing Histories on 11 million without users consent,” (Feb. 6, 2017) https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2017/02/vizio-pay-22-million-ftc-state-new-jersey-settle-charges-it-collected-viewing-histories-11-million
[9] State of Texas v. Sony Corp. of America, Case 2025-DCV-5234-H; State of Texas v. LG Electronics U.S.A., Inc., Case No. 067-372971-25 (Dist. Ct. Tarrant County, Texas, 2025); State of Texas v. TCL North America, Inc., Case No. 25-3563-C368; State of Texas v. Hisense, USA Corp., C2025-1321D.
[10] State of Texas v. Samsung Electronics, Case 380-09751-2025
[11] Ken Paxton Press Release, Attorney General, “Ken Paxton Secures Major Agreement with LG” (May 11, 2026)
[12] Cann, Christopher, “In a rare moment of unity, Americans are fighting Big Tech together.” USA Today (Aug. 30, 2026) https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2026/08/30/data-centers-flock-cameras-artificial-intelligence/91459490007/
Pentchoukov, Ivan, “As Flock Cameras Pop Up Everywhere, Opposition is Rising,” Epoch Times (Sept. 1, 2026)
[13] Christy, Matt, “Indiana deputy allegedly used Flock cameras to search same license plate 2,055 times.” News Channel 8 (Sept. 1, 2026) https://www.wfla.com/news/national/ex-deputy-accused-of-using-flock-cameras-to-search-same-license-plate-2055-times/?fbclid=IwY2xjawUD9OZwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMXc3d1Fpd0dZc1lOaWN4bDlzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeQ955iwk01soYbgJFYJjRTaux4rLpac1ylQoEAp-78KuQXy5XFtlD3liskMk_aem_qkDr-rzlx1rreBpWHnohpg
[14] Kopylov, Frank, “FDOT cracks down on license plate readers, orders Flock cameras removed from state roads.” Florida News (Aug. 31, 2026) https://flvoicenews.com/fdot-cracks-down-on-license-plate-readers-orders-flock-cameras-removed-from-state-roads/
[15] Todaro, Joe, “Why You Should Turn off ACR on Smart TVs and Business Displays, Kraft Kennedy Insights (Dec. 8, 2025) https://www.kraftkennedy.com/why-you-should-turn-off-acr-on-smart-tvs-and-business-displays/
