Texas Sues TV Makers for Secretly Taking Screenshots of Viewers’ Content

Nearly all of today's televisions come equipped with technology that allows them to collect data about the individual viewership using them, including capturing video footage. The State of Texas is suing five leading manufacturers (Sony, Samsung, LG, Hisense, and TCL) for using their televisions as devices for gathering data on consumers without their knowledge or consent.

What’s Was Going On?​

As a result of the illegal activity of these five manufacturers, the smart televisions manufactured by them can perform the following:

• Take pictures of the video content being viewed by users at intervals of 0.5 seconds.
• Identify what types of programming/videos any given user is watching.
• Sell this data to advertisers through the manufacturer.

According to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, these activities are creating a “hidden digital spy” in each individual viewer's home. In addition, these actions raise concerns over potential national security threats from foreign nations such as China accessing American's private information.

Concerns About Smart TV Privacy​

In 2017, there were reports that Vizio collected user data through their smart televisions without citizen consent. Vizio was fined $2.2 million for these violations, which were related to collecting personal information such as age, gender, and income and selling this information to advertisers.

Recommended Actions To Secure Your Data​

There are several ways to reduce your chances of having your data tracked by manufacturers of smart televisions, such as:

• To review the privacy settings on your new or existing Smart Sound Televisions
• To disable the TV's automatic feature to monitor what you watch; and
• To use a network-level service such as AdGuard DNS or NextDNS to help them keep your data private.

Conclusion​

The lawsuit against Vizio highlights the importance of privacy in our lives today. Have you considered your smart TV may be monitoring your habits? Unfortunately, there is a chance it may be, but with time courts are beginning to change how corporations use your personal information. For this reason, it is important that you review your personal devices regularly to assess whether your privacy is at risk.