Vizio Collecting User Data
| Vizio Collecting User Data | |
|---|---|
| Short Title | Vizio Has Been Collecting User Data Without Notifying Them |
| Location | United States |
| Date | Early 2017 |
| Solove Harm | Surveillance, Aggregation, Secondary Use, Identification |
| Information | Preference, Behavioral |
| Threat Actors | Vizio |
| Individuals | |
| Affected | Vizio TV owners |
| High Risk Groups | |
| Tangible Harms | Changed Behavior, Loss of Trust |
Smart TV maker Vizio was found to be collecting user data without them knowing.
Description
Smart TV maker Vizio was found to be tracking user information without notifying users of the data collection. The biggest privacy concern surrounding this practice is that the tracked data included IP addresses. This information passed through a “data aggregator,”Aggregation enabled advertisers to track user behavior across devices, which allowed advertisers to see, for example, whether a consumer viewed a particular television program following exposure to an online advertisement for that program. This is an example of Surveillance.
One example of how these data are being used is for political campaign advertisement.
The Federal Trade Commission announced in February 2017 that it has reached a settlement with Vizio, which it alleged misled customers about what data its smart TVs were collecting. Vizio agreed to pay $2.2 million in penalties, including $1.5 million to the FTC and $1 million to the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, with $300,000 suspended.
Laws and Regulations
Sources
https://gizmodo.com/tv-maker-vizio-to-pay-out-millions-after-secretly-colle-1792056140