Texas is suing five major TV companies for spying on its users
Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against five major smart TV manufacturers for illegally processing what consumers watch in their own homes.
Sony, Samsung, LG, Hisense, and TCL Technology Group are being sued by the state of Texas.
The latter two are based in China. Due to China’s National Security Law, which grants Beijing access to US consumer data, these companies pose a significant risk in collecting and transferring user data of American citizens.
According to Paxton, these companies have been illegally collecting personal data through Automated Content Recognition (ACR) technology. This puts users’ privacy and sensitive information, such as passwords, bank information, and other personal information, at risk.
“ACR in its simplest terms is an uninvited, invisible digital invader,” Paxton says in a press release.
“This software can capture screenshots of a user’s television display every 500 milliseconds, monitor viewing activity in real time, and transmit that information back to the company without the user’s knowledge or consent. The companies then sell that consumer information to target ads across platforms for a profit,” he adds.
The Attorney General feels that companies like the ones being sued have no business illegally recording Americans’ devices inside their own homes.
“This conduct is invasive, deceptive, and unlawful. The fundamental right to privacy will be protected in Texas because owning a television does not mean surrendering your personal information to big tech or foreign adversaries,” Paxton states.
In court documents, Paxton says that smart TVs aren’t devices just for entertainment, but are also used as a mass surveillance tool.
“When families buy a television, they don’t expect it to spy on them. They don’t expect their viewing habits to be packaged and auctioned to advertisers. Yet [COMPANY] deceptively guides consumers to activate ACR and buries any explanation of what that means in dense legal jargon that few will read or understand,” the court filings say.
The Attorney General promises to “aggressively investigate and stop any company that puts consumers at risk.”
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