Class Action Filed Against Samsung Over Smart TV Spying Concerns

Three California residents have filed a class action lawsuit against tech giant Samsung, alleging that the company collects viewing data on its TV users in violation of privacy rights.

Samsung uses its Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology to capture what is displayed on Samsung Smart TV screens roughly twice a second, according to the Oct. 6 lawsuit, filed in the District Court for the Northern District of California.

The captured data is transmitted—together with information about the individual, device, household, and home network—to servers that are part of Samsung’s multi-billion-dollar advertising business. The data capture is done as Samsung claims that it does not collect any content info displayed on televisions, the lawsuit said.

“This case is about that surveillance: the Automatic Content Recognition (‘ACR’) technology Samsung uses to conduct it, the false assurances and manipulative design Samsung deploys to manufacture ‘consent’ to it, and the state and federal laws Samsung violates by doing so,” the plaintiffs said in the lawsuit.

The plaintiffs, all Samsung Smart TV owners, alleged privacy violations, including of the California Invasion of Privacy Act and the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act, according to the complaint.

The plaintiffs asked the court to issue a public injunction prohibiting Samsung from deploying ACR technology without obtaining a “clear, conspicuous, affirmative” consent from customers, according to the lawsuit. It is also seeking an award of damages, the amount of which will be determined at trial.

In its U.S. privacy policy for Smart TVs, Samsung said that these devices offer SyncPlus and other marketing features that are used to make content and advertisements shown to viewers more interactive.

Such content includes show insights, in-program trivia, promotions, and ad enhancements that allow users to take immediate action in response, such as downloading a coupon, according to the company.

“To make these kinds of enhancements available, we provide video or audio snippets of the program you’re watching to third-party providers that use this information in order to return content or advertising ‘synched’ to what you’re watching,” Samsung said. “These providers may receive information about your device (e.g., its IP address and device identifiers) and your interactions with the content and advertising they provide.”

The company clarified that users can disable these interactive marketing features from within the Smart TVs.

In their lawsuit, the three plaintiffs alleged the data and identifiers captured by Samsung from its Smart TVs are transmitted to a network of corporate recipients, each of which repackages the data and sells it to advertisers and data brokers.

The lawsuit alleged that Samsung “actively conceals the existence, scope, and operation” of ACR data collection through various measures, such as using benign-sounding feature names and enabling such data collection by default.

The complaint also highlighted that Samsung’s ACR practices have already attracted law enforcement action in Texas.

The Epoch Times reached out to Samsung for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

Samsung Versus Texas

Samsung was one of the TV companies sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over allegations of spying in December. Paxton’s office said in a statement that Samsung devices were secretly recording information about viewers, and called the companies’ ACR data collection efforts unlawful.

In a Feb. 26 statement, the attorney general’s office announced that Samsung had entered into an agreement to stop collecting ACR data of Texans without fully informing and securing consent from them. In addition, the agreement required Samsung to implement disclosures and consent screens across its Smart TVs that are “clear and conspicuous,” according to the statement.

Paxton commended Samsung in the statement for making these changes. “Texans must be fully informed about whether their data is collected and be in full control of how it’s used. The changes outlined in this agreement help accomplish both of those aims and are an important step forward in reforming smart TV manufacturers’ data collection practices,” Paxton said.

In a May 19 post, consumer advocacy group Consumer Reports highlighted the issue of privacy risks associated with smart appliances, including smart TVs.

The data being collected may not be limited to basic personal information but can include detailed info about a user and their surroundings. For instance, a smart robot vacuum cleaner can collect information about the dimensions of the floors it cleans as well as photos and videos, according to the report.

Hacking is another threat. A malicious actor can steal the data from smart devices to impersonate a target, Consumer Reports warned.

With regard to smart TVs, the University of Maryland’s Division of Information Technology said in a Jan. 16 post that users should turn off the ACR and related features in order to reduce how much information the television reports back.

Customers should also consider turning off personalized ads to limit the viewing data collected by TVs. Moreover, users must be wary about updates. “Software updates often sneak in new data-sharing permissions without alerting you,” according to the post. “Pause before clicking ‘Accept’ and decline optional tracking.”