Your smart TV might be a little too smart. A Texas lawmaker is suing five major TV makers, claiming they monitor what you watch to create profiles and serve advertising…or do worse.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed suit Monday against Samsung, Sony, LG, TCL and Hisense, saying in a press release that they “illegally collected personal data through automated content recognition (“ACR”) technology.
What the ACR does and why you might be concerned
Companies like LG, Hisense, Samsung and others are now apparently using ACR to identify what you’re watching and connect you to relevant content, marketing and advertising.
Paxton’s suit claims that these ACR systems can capture screenshots of viewing habits every 500 milliseconds and that TV manufacturers “transmit this information to the company without the user’s knowledge or consent.”
However, in general, data specific to your identity, such as your name, photos, address, etc., are not part of this delivery. Instead, third-party partners obtain information about content interests, and TVs or television companies act as intermediaries, providing related content recommendations and advertising.
This is not the first time ACR systems have broken the law. In 2017, Vizo paid a $2 million fine to the FTC to settle a claim that it monitored viewing histories without proper consent.
There is no doubt that these systems exist. On a test LG TV in our labs, we spent some time navigating to a well-hidden Live Plus setting.
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Live Plus is LG’s version of ACR, and as LG describes it, when you enable it, “content displayed on your TV can be recognized and viewing information can be used to provide you with an enhanced viewing experience and personalized services, including content recommendations and advertisements.”
We never enabled Live Plus and it seemed to be enabled by default. However, it is also possible that during setup the TV asked us if we wanted “an enhanced and personalized visual experience”. Who wouldn’t say yes to that?
Paxton’s concerns go beyond just advertising and marketing, however. He notes that some of these TV companies, like TCL and Hisense, are based in China. “Companies, especially those linked to the Chinese Communist Party, do not have to illegally record Americans’ devices inside their own homes,” Paxton said in the statement.
What’s next
When we reached out to the manufacturers for comment, TCL told us it “does not comment on active litigation.” Sony told us, “it does not comment on ongoing legal matters.” Hisense told us: “Hisense stands out for the high quality of its products. In accordance with company policy, we are unable to comment further on matters of a contentious nature. » We have not yet received a response from Samsung and LG.
Whatever happens with this lawsuit, now might be a good time to check the ACR settings on your smart TVs, see if they’re turned on, and maybe turn them off if you don’t want one of these companies watching what you’re watching.
Most reports we’ve read indicate that disabling ACR disables all communications between TVs and ACR servers. Keep in mind that the next ads and TV show recommendations you see on your smart TV may not have much to do with your interests.
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