http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/11/own-a-vizio-smart-tv-its-watching-you/

Julia Angwin @ ProPublica wrote:

TV makers are constantly crowing about the tricks their smart TVs can do. But one of the most popular brands has a feature that it’s not advertising: Vizio’s Smart TVs track your viewing habits and share it with advertisers, who can then find you on your phone and other devices.

The tracking—which Vizio calls “Smart Interactivity”—is turned on by default for the more than 10 million Smart TVs that the company has sold. Customers who want to escape it have to opt-out.

In a statement, Vizio said customers’ “non-personal identifiable information may be shared with select partners … to permit these companies to make, for example, better-informed decisions regarding content production, programming and advertising.”

Vizio’s actions appear to go beyond what others are doing in the emerging interactive television industry. Vizio rivals Samsung and LG Electronics only track users’ viewing habits if customers choose to turn the feature on. And unlike Vizio, they don’t appear to provide the information in a form that allows advertisers to reach users on other devices.

Be warned if you own Vizio and dislike this kind of activity.

[quote]http://arstechnica.com/security/2015/11/own-a-vizio-smart-tv-its-watching-you/

Julia Angwin @ ProPublica wrote:

TV makers are constantly crowing about the tricks their smart TVs can do. But one of the most popular brands has a feature that it’s not advertising: Vizio’s Smart TVs track your viewing habits and share it with advertisers, who can then find you on your phone and other devices.

The tracking—which Vizio calls “Smart Interactivity”—is turned on by default for the more than 10 million Smart TVs that the company has sold. Customers who want to escape it have to opt-out.
<schnip>
Be warned if you own Vizio and dislike this kind of activity.

Seems to me I heard about this a couple years ago.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

Hmm. I just heard about it today, and I'm usually up on these kinds of things. Glad you already knew about this, but I'm hoping to give others the same opportunity.

Another reason for me to keep my CRT. ;~)

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The mind is a weird and mysterious place

I own a Samsung UN55D6050TXZA TV, smart features aren't on, the ethernet port is disconnected, plus wifi is locked out, since My wifi is encrypted.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

I don't own a TV. What I watch I watch over monitors or a projection systems.

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It took me fifty years to give up news papers,
TV is going to take a little longer.....

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Uh Vic... your tv may be listening to you!!!

Samsung Eavesdropper

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....

Be warned if you own Vizio and dislike this kind of activity.

I don't own a smart phone for that very reason so why would I want to own a smart TV? :-O

Cheers.

Oh no it's Goldstein!


edit:
Guess I was wrong, ....

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Uh Vic... you tv may be listening to you!!!

Samsung Eavesdropper

I only have video and power cables hooked to the TV, so I'm not worried Angela.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

I always make sure i get a dumb tv
if i want streaming i use my plex server or the firetv
a tv should not be connected to the net OR have anything smart on it you never know what they put in the software since it is not open source

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I came down with a bad case of i don't give a crap

Well, my parents bought their Blu-Ray with streaming features before getting the Samsung 3D, 65" Smart TV. We don't use the Smart features on the TV. My mom has an Amazon Prime account; so, I set up the Blu-Ray for Amazon streaming. Most of our TV content, though, is on U-Verse. :-)

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TimeLord04
Have TARDIS, will travel...
Come along K-9!
Join Calm Chaos

It took me fifty years to give up news papers,
TV is going to take a little longer.....

To tell the truth I still like newspapers. When my Sunday paper is only on online then I will say screw it.
I still like TV:)

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[/quote]

Old James

I don't need a tv to track me. I have the internet doing that quite well. I see enough ads tracking what I have looked at.

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Great! Tracked by Google, now my TV.

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Great! Tracked by Google, now my TV.

Don't forget the NSA...

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Great! Tracked by Google, now my TV.

Don't forget the NSA...

LOL. FBI. IRS. the list goes on.

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Great! Tracked by Google, now my TV.

Don't forget the NSA...

Like I'm worried, I'm the one diagnosed with severe anxiety.

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The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's

Great! Tracked by Google, now my TV.

Don't forget the NSA...

I'm worried a lot more about Google, Yahoo, AdChoices, etc. than I am about the NSA.

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David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.