A new Northeastern University and Imperial College London study found that some smart TVs send data to companies like Netflix, Facebook, and Google, even when the devices are not in use.

In a national survey of employers that we at Northeastern University recently conducted, a strong majority of HR leaders said that the value of educational credentials in hiring has either increased (48%) or held steady (29%) over the last five years. 

Dov Waxman, Professor of Political Science, International Affairs and Israel Studies, Northeastern University

The full study, a joint collaboration between Northeastern University and Imperial College London took a closer look at 81 popular smart TVs, streaming dongles, smart speakers, and video doorbells made by vendors including Google, Roku, and Amazon.

Researchers from Northeastern University and Imperial College London caught smart TVs made by Samsung and LG and streaming devices from Roku and Amazon uploading data about their owners to advertisers, in some cases even when the devices were not in use.   

James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University, released a study in March that also found an uptick in the rates of intimate partner violence involving a gun. Fox said it’s unclear whether the increase is temporary or a trend.

One way to get at this question is to use the approach of Northeastern University political scientist William Mayer, who wrote a 2008 book on the subject.

Just this week, researchers from Northeastern University and Imperial College London had similar findings in a survey of smart TVs. 

Researchers from Northeastern University in the US and Imperial College London found that a number of smart TVs, including those made by Samsung and LG, and the streaming dongles Roku and Amazon’s Fire TV, were sending out data such as location and IP address to Netflix and third-party advertisers.

A post-election assessment from Costas Panagopoulos, a political science professor at Northeastern University, ranked the Post/ABC poll the second-most-accurate of 14 national polls he studied. 

Researchers from Northeastern University and Imperial College London found that a number of smart TVs, including those made by Samsung and LG, and the streaming dongles Roku and Amazon’s FireTV, were sending out data such as location and IP address to Netflix and third-party advertisers.

One of the researchers, David Choffnes, a professor of computer science at Northeastern, said that his previous work looking at the data collection and dissemination habits of mobile apps led him to expect similar practices with smart-home devices.