TV Maker in the US Fined for $2.2 Million for Spying on Viewers

Industry February, 7 2017 Glib Savchenko

The company was charged with collecting information about the owners of its devices without their consent.

Vizio, an American TV maker, will pay a $2.2 million fine to settle a lawsuit brought by the US Federal Trade Commission, The Next Web writes.

Vizio was charged with illegally installing special software on its devices, which followed what the viewers were watching without their knowledge. The company also obtained information about the IP address of the device and the nearest access points, as well as the zip code of the area where the TV owner lives, and shared this information with other companies.

Now Vizio obliged to discontinue this practice and destroy all data obtained this way. The company says that it never used the information for illegal purposes or disclosed personal information such as names or contact details of the owners of their devices. According to the company’s statement, it used the data “in the ‘aggregate’ to create summary reports measuring viewing audiences or behaviors.”