📺 Is your TV a spy? Sony, Samsung, and LG are accused of total surveillance.
Imagine someone standing behind you taking a screenshot of your screen every half second. It turns out this is exactly what modern Smart TVs do.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed lawsuits against Sony, Samsung, LG, Hisense, and TCL, accusing them of illegally using ACR (Automated Content Recognition) technology.
🔍 How does it work?
Software takes screenshots 2 times per second (every 500 ms). The system records everything:
Series and movies on streaming services.
Cable channels and gaming consoles.
Confidential data: banking apps and passwords if you access them through connected devices.
💰 Why do they need this?
Your data is the new oil. Televisions have ceased to be just 'hardware'. Now they are platforms for data collection that are sold to advertisers. Selling the device becomes secondary compared to the income from selling your viewing history and habits.
⚖️ Consequences and fines
On December 17, the first-ever ban on data collection for Hisense was issued in U.S. history.
Fines: up to $10,000 for each violation (and up to $250,000 if the interests of elderly people are affected).
Total claim: potentially in the billions of dollars.
🛡 What does this mean for us?
The era of the "Internet of Things" (IoT) has turned our living rooms into zones of open surveillance. If the lawsuits are successful, the industry will change: televisions may become more expensive as manufacturers lose 'hidden' income from data sales, or they will have to make the consent system transparent.
$BNB $SOPH
