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.)
No. You need to request your Netflix video, you need to ACK the segments of it you receive and a lot more.
At the very least you’ll need to maintain a detailed whitelist of allowed domains and especially for the manufacturer some packets might he OK, like checking for updates, while others you’ll wanna block.
It’s likely a lot easier to just get a dumb screen and have the smart in a device you control.