Millions of smart TVs sold in the US record their users’ habits and identify other devices in their home network for targeted advertising.
A New York Times inquiry founds that millions of smart TVs sold in the United States record the habits of their users and then send them to some companies, which use this data to deliver targeted advertising to them on other devices in their home network.
US newspapers analysed in particular the system of a well-known American smart TV, Samba TV. This company has paid TV producers, such as Philipps and Sony, to have their software inserted on their TV sets in such a way as to record the interactions of their users, who previously gave their consent through a vague contract formula. Once activated, the software of this smart TV is able to record all the films and programs viewed by the users and, above all, it has the ability to identify other devices in the home network and send them targeted publicity based on the data collected by the software.
Samba TV was not the first company to use this system. In fact, in 2017 the electronics manufacturer Vizio was sewed by New Jersey and the Federal Trade Commission for using its smart TVs to record and sell the data of millions of users without their consent.
