[diego_moita]

Even if the TV set does that but you only use the dumb features then there isn't too much to spy, right?

It should be hard for the TV to recognize what you play connected from a cable. (Edit: I know they can do it but please read the next paragraph).

Besides, if you block commercials from the smart features, what does the manufacturer gains by spying on you? Without incentives why bother the work?

[cma]

Some of these TVs have been found to upload screenshots of what is being displayed:

https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/samsung-smart-tvs...

[LanceH]

Making copies of material under copyright?

[treesknees]

I'm not sure why they used "screenshot", because they actually take a fingerprint/hash of the material being displayed. It's much more compact and way more practical.

[csunbird]

The TVs are actually trying to identify the content on screen.

[cyberbanjo]

I'm not sure if smart TVs come with always on recording capabilities (Siri, Alexa style) yet but that's a possible avenue to leak private audio of your viewing area.

[3guk]

Sadly ACR is a thing that most manufacturers are using / employing - https://factory-reset.com/wiki/Disable_ACR