People are using Claude Code and Codex to strip the spyware out of their smart TVs, and it's beautiful. Jake Stevens removed all of Samsung's tracking from his TV with Codex. His list of what he switched off reads like a confession the TV makers never meant to give: screenshots of your screen a few times a second to fingerprint what you're streaming, reading your HDMI inputs to do the same thing while you have a game console plugged in, and Bixby wake-word detectors. He says the TV runs three times faster with the junk gone. The tracking at the center of this is called automatic content recognition, or ACR. Texas AG Ken Paxton sued Sony, Samsung, LG, Hisense and TCL last December, alleging the software can capture screenshots of your TV display every 500 milliseconds and transmit that data back without your knowledge or consent. The companies then sell it to target ads. A 2024 study found ACR works even when the smart TV is used as a dumb external display, meaning the game console or laptop you plug in over HDMI gets tracked too. You paid for a screen, and they shipped you a sensor that reports what you watch in your own living room. Now AI is handing regular people the tools to rip it out. Own your stuff, verify it yourself, and don't trust anyone who profits from watching you.