But perhaps the bigger issue at play here is one of expectation: People don’t expect to worry about the security of their TVs. They know to protect themselves when using devices like phones, tablets, and laptops, but passive devices like TVs don’t raise the same guard.

“A TV is for entertainment, so it shouldn’t become a device you have to manage by learning how to keep it secure and how to keep your personal content personal,” says Barbara Kraus, director of research at Parks Associates. “A TV manufacturer shouldn’t put a feature in that doesn’t have a customer benefit, and if it does, it should be designed with consumers’ privacy and security in mind, as opposed to that being an afterthought.”

This means communicating what the benefit of the feature is, how it works, and what you can do if you don’t want to opt in. For instance, any voice recognition feature that might feel intrusive should be able to be turned off, even after you’ve already agreed to the terms in using it. Of course, doing so will block out other, related features, and which those are should be spelled out.

From the article "To make your smart TV safe from spying, manufacturers need to up their game" by Ted Kritsonis.

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