General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDo you own a smart TV? If it's a Vizio, advertisers may know your viewing habits!
Vizio is being sued for tracking viewers' program preferences and selling that data to advertisers. I wonder if it's just Vizio? Maybe some of the other TV manufacturers haven't been caught yet. After all, this is the same concept as most Internet sites tracking your browsing data and then tailoring advertising to your tastes. Television is behind the curve in that regard, so the pressure is on to keep pace.
Starting in 2014, Vizio made TVs that automatically tracked what consumers were watching and transmitted that data back to its servers. Vizio even retrofitted older models by installing its tracking software remotely. All of this, the FTC and AG allege, was done without clearly telling consumers or getting their consent.
What did Vizio know about what was going on in the privacy of consumers homes? On a second-by-second basis, Vizio collected a selection of pixels on the screen that it matched to a database of TV, movie, and commercial content. Whats more, Vizio identified viewing data from cable or broadband service providers, set-top boxes, streaming devices, DVD players, and over-the-air broadcasts. Add it all up and Vizio captured as many as 100 billion data points each day from millions of TVs.
Vizio then turned that mountain of data into cash by selling consumers viewing histories to advertisers and others. And lets be clear: Were not talking about summary information about national viewing trends. According to the complaint, Vizio got personal. The company provided consumers IP addresses to data aggregators, who then matched the address with an individual consumer or household. Vizios contracts with third parties prohibited the re-identification of consumers and households by name, but allowed a host of other personal details for example, sex, age, income, marital status, household size, education, and home ownership. And Vizio permitted these companies to track and target its consumers across devices.
https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/blogs/business-blog/2017/02/what-vizio-was-doing-behind-tv-screen
elleng
(131,073 posts)so NO one knows about me!
Phoenix61
(17,013 posts)That would seriously piss me off.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)Stellar
(5,644 posts)you can purchase a Roku and connect it to any dumb TV for less money. Also you can take that same Roku with you and connect it to any other dumb TV where ever you are. I don't understand why more people don't do that.
SoCalNative
(4,613 posts)and I don't want to spend the money on an Apple TV, in addition to a TV.
Stellar
(5,644 posts)my initial point was that (in my experience) you could use a Roku most everywhere as long as you have WiFi. But I could be wrong.
SoCalNative
(4,613 posts)sadly
Stellar
(5,644 posts)SoCalNative
(4,613 posts)Stellar
(5,644 posts)Cosmocat
(14,568 posts)It actually is becoming standard.
I have a chromecast and 46 inch led, but we will are very likely to upgrade size/smart by the end of the year.
Chromecast is serviceable, but still a minor inconvenience to use vs just having it built in.
Sucha NastyWoman
(2,749 posts)I have a Samsung smart TV but I think even if I didn't have a smart TV all they have to do is ask dish TV when I watch. Dish probably sells the information to the highest bidder(s). I'm pretty sure every night when they download info to my TV they also upload info about when I watched. Usually they say they're updating your guide. But it's pretty important for them to get a connection to me once a day because if I tell him know I'm busy don't turn the TV off they try again in an hour or so.
What really pisses me off is that even though I have my local Fox station blocked occasionally it will just change the channel to them from whatever I've been watching
TransitJohn
(6,932 posts)being tracked when they agreed to be tracked? Those sets all have terms of service when you set them up. They also provide opt outs, although scumbag corporations sometimes keep tracking.
Initech
(100,099 posts)It can be done - if you have a smart TV just don't hook it into your Wifi router. Oh and this is further proof that the marketing and advertising industry ruins everything.
Hoyt
(54,770 posts)But folks ought to be able to opt out, or hide.
True Dough
(17,314 posts)Watcha watching, Hoyt???
Afromania
(2,770 posts)You can opt out but they track anyway if they want. Honestly I don't really care if they want to know that I like Star Trek: TOS reruns entirely too much. Look at it this way, it's a round about way to become a Nielsen family Ad dollars talk and low viewership walks. With an expanded pool of data maybe the better television will be produced.. Or we could end up with more dreck. Bah, never mind, we'll probably all end up with more dreck.
democratisphere
(17,235 posts)Blue_true
(31,261 posts)Not connect it to the Internet (he is old fashion and doesn't use the Net).