Streaming devices track viewing habits, study finds

Do you know what kind of data your streaming device may be collecting while you binge watch?

Steadily, we are adopting more and more technology into our households. Our homes are becoming more interconnected, with IoT (Internet of Things) devices becoming regular parts of our lives. One of the devices that is the centerpiece of most households is the television set – and with it often come internet-connected streaming services. So, what is the trade-in for having the convenience of a vast library of content at your fingertips?

To a certain extent, the trade-in may be your privacy. A study conducted by researchers from Princeton University and the University of Chicago unveils that at least some streaming devices are tracking some of your viewing habits.

The research focused on two streaming devices, Roku and Amazon Fire TV, simply because together they have the largest global market share. The devices are OTT (Over-The-Top), which means they add smart features to your TV, mainly online streaming libraries.

The research found that tracking is prevalent on both platforms, with trackers present on 69% of Roku channels while Amazon Fire TV has trackers on 89% of its channels. On Roku, doubleclick.net, a tracking domain owned by Google, is the most dominant tracker, appearing in 975 of the 1,000 tested channels.

In the case of Amazon Fire TV, the dominant tracker is Amazon’s tracking domain amazon-adsystem.com appearing in 687 of the 1,000 tested channels. Another two domains connected with Google appear in the top ten trackers present in both tested devices.

Two unique IDs – the AD ID and the serial number – are the ..

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