The researchers have discovered that automatic content recognition (ACR) tracking is active most of the time, even when TVs are used as “dumb” HDMI devices. In other words, the TV manufacturers are monitoring your private moments as well. There’s apparently no monitoring of streaming content in the UK, but there is in the US.
The only good news is that these TVs can seemingly be configured to disable ACR, provided the owners know this activity is taking place and are able to find the right settings. (I recently looked at the configuration of our TVs again, and understanding the various settings was far from easy.)
Just give it the wrong wifi password.
I have been thinking more on this. Seems like a spare router with no Internet should suffice. Gives it a connection with no Internet so it can’t go anywhere and since it has a connection it shouldn’t be hunting for open networks