Barb Audiences Ltd data mining in our homes

TV & Film TV & Film: Chat / Discussions
1

So I just had a message pop up on the smart TV saying that viewing habits are being watched. There was some blurb which mentioned you could opt out by pressing the yellow button on your remote.

I see Barb have been around for 40 years but who has given them permission to sneak into our living rooms on the smart telly? The question then is who else is spying without permission?

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2

My first thought was … how come they seem to be telling the viewer now.
I’m sure loads of gadgets hold data mining software.
Has some recent legislation being passed requiring they notify you?

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3

I opted out with the yellow button, but have I really? We have the GDPR legislation and this would fall under that. I’m guessing they can make a shedload of money by sneaking in via the net.

4

Blimey who missed the overture?

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5

Blimey, short on visionary’s

6

All smart tvs are the same unfortunately.

Some better options:

  • Buy an AppleTV for £149 and then watch ALL of your shows via that: Buy Apple TV 4K - Apple (UK)

  • Or use an old Mac (or PC) hooked up to your TV (I use a Mac Mini) and buy a bluetooth keyboard with touchpad to control it (that way you can also watch youtube without ads by using something like the Brave browser)

And then disable access to the internet for your TV :023:

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My smart telly is not connected to the net, I just watch freeview, but in the unlikely event that I miss something Important (to me) I just bluetooth my laptop to the telly and watch it using that.
However, owning a smartphone, and things like a Tesco clubcard, it’s possible to find out virtually everything about a person. Shopping habits disclose how many people live in a family home, where and how much travelling you do, any pets, etc…
Using information gained from shopping habits, it has even been suggested that Tesco and other supermarkets can estimate the population of this country. And they actually put the population at over 70 million when official stats show only just over 68 million.
AI Overview

The population of the United Kingdom in mid-2025 is estimated to be 69,551,332. This figure is based on data from Worldometer and is a mid-year estimate. The UK population represents approximately 0.84% of the world’s total population.