Samsung faces class action over privacy concerns with smart TVs

Filed 1h ago · Via Courthouse News · The Buffoon Desk

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Bad Ideas (clean)

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Creator:McLoughlin Brothers · CC0 · via Wikimedia Commons

Three named plaintiffs who bought Samsung Smart TVs between 2014 and 2021 have filed an 88-page class action in Northern California federal court alleging the company's automated content recognition technology captures screen images roughly twice a second, fingerprints them, and builds monetizable viewing profiles pulled from cable, HDMI and streaming sources.

The suit says Samsung labels this as 'Viewing Information Services' and 'personalized recommendations' without disclosing the data goes to third parties for targeted advertising, and brings 14 claims including invasion of privacy and violations of state and federal wiretap-adjacent statutes.

The filing follows a similar Texas case against Samsung and other manufacturers that ended in a February settlement requiring express consent and clearer disclosures, which the plaintiffs apparently consider insufficient nationwide. Samsung has not responded to requests for comment.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

A television that watches you is not a new idea in science fiction, it is apparently just a Tuesday in your living room. Calling constant screen-capture a 'recommendation service' is the kind of naming choice a fox makes when it starts calling the henhouse a wellness retreat. If the only way companies stop doing this is getting sued state by state, that tells you plenty about how much the disclosure forms were ever meant to be read.

Source: Read the original at Courthouse News → Scored: Bad Ideas (clean) · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0