So I had this discussion with my husband last week and I wanted to get others opinions.  We do not use cable or anything of that sort but we do watch DVDs and so currently we have an older flat computer screen hooked up to pc speakers and a dvd/cd player. Now my question is if we wanted to get a larger screen...I think the one we have now is maybe 20" and we would like something a little bigger to watch as a family....and we bought a modern TV it would most likely be a smart TV or if we opted for a little older one would it be watching us and collecting our data if it is not connected to wifi and/or plugged in? May seem silly but now a days you just never know. All i want is a TV that is not too big that we as a family can watch a dvd whenever without being watched by those in control of the beast system. 

So I had this discussion with my husband last week and I wanted to get others opinions.  We do not use cable or anything of that sort but we do watch DVDs and so currently we have an older flat computer screen hooked up to pc speakers and a dvd/cd player. Now my question is if we wanted to get a larger screen...I think the one we have now is maybe 20" and we would like something a little bigger to watch as a family....and we bought a modern TV it would most likely be a smart TV or if we opted for a little older one would it be watching us and collecting our data if it is not connected to wifi and/or plugged in? May seem silly but now a days you just never know. All i want is a TV that is not too big that we as a family can watch a dvd whenever without being watched by those in control of the beast system.

I wouldn't worry about it.

• If it's not connected to wi-fi, there is absolutely no way it could collect and transmit data about you.
• If it is connected to wi-fi, remember that anything you do on the Internet leaves some sort of data footprint.  I think it is the stuff of wild conspiracy theories and just plain old paranoia to think that everything is stored on data systems somewhere, and one day all of our online activity will be parsed, analyzed, and used against us by Big Brother, the Antichrist, what have you.  Besides, how incriminating could it be?  We watch The Andy Griffith Show on cable every night and watched the movie Beetlejuice on Amazon last week.  That's some pretty boring information to have on someone.
• I don't think they have cameras and microphones hidden in smart TVs.
• Granted, these "footprints" exist.  Could they ever be used by a totalitarian, godless regime to see who participates in forums like CathInfo?  Online information capabilities have allowed traditionalists to network, exchange ideas, and "get the word out" in a way that wasn't possible 30 years ago.  If it ever comes to that, then all we can say is "come rack! come rope!".

What I would really worry about is Alexa and similar online personal assistants.  It's been proven that Alexa has the capacity for eavesdropping.  I have no use for such a gadget, but my son was on his head to have one, so we got it.  Once the news came out about eavesdropping having been done (supposedly inadvertently), we unplugged it and put it away.