{"id":4968,"date":"2017-02-09T16:27:58","date_gmt":"2017-02-09T20:27:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ncjolt.org\/?p=4968"},"modified":"2020-06-04T20:52:56","modified_gmt":"2020-06-04T20:52:56","slug":"big-brothers-got-siblings-vizios-2-2-million-settlement-ftc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/blogs\/big-brothers-got-siblings-vizios-2-2-million-settlement-ftc\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Brother\u2019s Got Siblings: VIZIO\u2019s $2.2 Million Settlement with the FTC"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the modern world, there\u2019s enough covert and overt surveillance occurring with enough regularity to make George Orwell\u2019s predictions seem demure. From the Snowden-triggered revelations of 2013 to the endless cookies<\/a> users accept while browsing the web, computer and smart phone users are leaving footprints everywhere they wander. Governments and corporations follow close behind, collecting and saving this information, often indefinitely.
\nIn the consumer world, most of this data collection is authorized pursuant to agreements in which users affirmatively \u201copt-in\u201d to programs which report data on user\u2019s usage habits, or through shrink wrap or clickwrap agreements at the outset of product usage. Smart TVs produced by VIZIO, however, do not follow this trend. Starting in February of 2014, VIZIO\u2019s Smart TVs included software which tracked and transmitted back to itself information about individual consumer viewing. Both newly manufactured televisions, and older models were included\u2014VIZIO simply installed the tracking software on older televisions by way of a \u201csoftware update<\/a>.\u201d This software recorded up to \u201c100 billion data points each day<\/a>\u201d on 10 million VIZIO televisions\u2014that\u2019s 10,000 per television for those following along at home\u2014without user\u2019s consent or knowledge. From there, VIZIO sold the information it collected, which included not only viewing history, but the IP address of the device used, MAC addresses, and WiFi information, to third parties.
\nAccess to IP information allowed these third parties to \u201cgather personal details like sex, age, income, marital status, household size, education, and home ownership<\/a>.\u201d In the initial filing paperwork for its 2015 IPO<\/a>, VIZIO itself described the program as \u201cprovid[ing] highly specific viewing behavior data on a massive scale with great accuracy.<\/a>\u201d
\nThis activity eventually attracted the attention of the Federal Trade Commission, which filed a Complaint on February 6, 2017, alleging that VIZIO violated the Federal Trade Commission Act and New Jersey consumer protection laws. VIZIO expeditiously settled the following day, agreeing to pay $1.5 million to the FTC and $1 million to the New Jersey Division or Consumer Affairs<\/a>. VIZIO will also be required to purge illegally collected data and put in place data privacy safeguards.
\nThe story of VIZIO\u2019s subversive data collection raises many questions for the privacy-conscious consumer.<\/p>\n

Naturally, one must wonder whether or not similar programs are run across any of the numerous internet-connected devices we keep in our homes today\u2014especially when a practice such as VIZIO\u2019s, audacious in its out-in-the-open presence, managed to exist for almost three years before formal repercussions manifested themselves.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Smart TVs, which represent only a fraction of these devices, are in 29% of households in which income is $75,000 a year or greater<\/a>, and growth in their usage is expected to continue to grow in the coming years. Indeed, many likely are, agreed-to by the consumer\u2019s hasty scroll past the initial clickwrap agreement upon beginning use of a new device or program.
\nAs use of \u201csmart\u201d devices continues to climb, and the internet of things grows, current privacy protections may need to be rethought in favor of a more stringent\u2014and enforceable\u2014set of rules. If more demanding privacy laws are not promulgated, it is likely the concept of privacy in the digital age will continue to dissolve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the modern world, there\u2019s enough covert and overt surveillance occurring with enough regularity to make George Orwell\u2019s predictions seem demure. From the Snowden-triggered revelations of 2013 to the endless cookies users accept while browsing the web, computer and smart phone users are leaving footprints everywhere they wander. Governments and corporations follow close behind, collecting …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4969,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[51],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4968"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4968"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7116,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4968\/revisions\/7116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journals.law.unc.edu\/ncjolt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}