Method
What we watch for, and why
Every quotation on this site was selected by one of the patterns below, applied to the captured text of a document. The list is generated from the code that does the matching, so this page cannot claim to look for something the archive does not.
Severity is our judgement, not the company's. It describes how plainly a phrase states what is being collected — nothing more. The words themselves are always theirs, reproduced verbatim and linked to the capture they came from, so you can disagree with our rating and still check the quotation.
- Patterns
- 24
- Quotations found
- 843
- Severity 3
- 10
The patterns
| Severity | What it matches | Why it is watched | Found |
|---|---|---|---|
| sev 3 | Always-on collection always_on |
Collection that continues without a per-session decision by the viewer. | 4 |
| sev 3 | Automatic Content Recognition acr |
The technology that identifies what is on your screen by matching it against a fingerprint database. It is the mechanism this archive exists to document. | 71 |
| sev 3 | Content fingerprinting fingerprint |
The technique behind ACR: reducing audio or video to a signature that can be matched against a catalogue. | 0 |
| sev 3 | Frame-level capture pixel_frame |
Collection at the level of individual frames rather than whole programmes. | 0 |
| sev 3 | Glass-level data glass_level |
Industry shorthand for data taken at the screen itself. LG and VIZIO both use the phrase in their own material. | 6 |
| sev 3 | Reads what is on screen screen_content |
An explicit statement that the set reads what is displayed, including from devices plugged into it. | 2 |
| sev 3 | Second-by-second granularity second_by_second |
How often viewing is sampled. Second-by-second is the difference between knowing you watched a channel and knowing exactly what you saw. | 4 |
| sev 3 | Selling / licensing data sell_data |
Selling, licensing or monetising the data outright. | 39 |
| sev 3 | Shares viewing data with third parties share_viewing |
Sharing viewing data specifically, as opposed to generic account information. | 6 |
| sev 3 | Viewing data collection viewing_data |
The plainest possible name for the thing being collected. | 82 |
| sev 2 | Cross-device linkage cross_device |
Joining what happens on the television to what happens on phones and laptops. | 20 |
| sev 2 | Data clean room clean_room |
An arrangement where two companies match their data without formally handing over the raw records. | 9 |
| sev 2 | Deterministic identity matching deterministic |
Matching to a known individual rather than an inferred segment. Deterministic means they are confident it is you. | 11 |
| sev 2 | IP-based matching ip_matching |
Using the household IP address as the join key between the television and everything else on the network. | 0 |
| sev 2 | Identity / household graph identity_graph |
A database linking a household or person across devices. It is how viewing data stops being anonymous. | 1 |
| sev 2 | Named ACR / data vendor acr_vendor |
A named ACR, identity or measurement company, which shows who is in the chain. | 150 |
| sev 2 | Offline outcome attribution outcomes |
Tying an advertisement seen on the television to a purchase made later, in a shop or online. | 6 |
| sev 2 | Offline/PII onboarding onboard_pii |
Uploading customer lists, hashed emails or CRM records to match against the viewing panel. | 8 |
| sev 2 | Scale claim (screens/households) scale_screens |
Claims about how many televisions or households are covered. Scale is what makes a panel saleable. | 4 |
| sev 2 | Third-party data sharing data_partners |
Third parties given access. Who receives the data matters as much as what is collected. | 35 |
| sev 2 | Tuner / tune-in data tune_in |
Channel changes and tuner activity, the older and narrower form of the same data. | 9 |
| sev 1 | Ad personalization personalization |
Advertising targeted using the collected data. | 141 |
| sev 1 | Consent / opt-out language optout |
Consent and refusal language. Present in almost every policy, so it is context rather than evidence on its own. | 198 |
| sev 1 | First-party data claim first_party |
A claim to own the data directly, usually made to distinguish it from bought third-party data. | 37 |
A pattern matching does not mean a company is doing something wrong. Severity 1 in particular is ordinary advertising language that appears almost everywhere; it is published for context, and because omitting it would let us show only the damning matches and call that the whole picture.