Vizio Settles with FTC Over Smart TV Viewing Histories
The thing about relationships is both parties must consent or it’s just plain stalking. Vizio seems to have forgotten the distinction. A Federal Trade Commission complaint says they gathered detailed viewing histories on 11 million Smart TV owners without proper notification. The company then sold the information to advertisers. The viewing histories came with IP addresses which could be linked back to individuals, although Vizio contracts prohibited partners from doing that. But buyers could and did append other personal information such as age, sex, income, and marital status and use it to target advertisements. Vizio paid the FTC and State of New Jersey a $2.2 million fine to settle the charges.