Texas Challenges TV Makers Over Intrusive Ad Tech

Ken Paxton's Lawsuit on Spyware Allegations

Ken Paxton, the Attorney General of Texas, is known for his controversial reputation. However, in a surprising turn, he seems to be championing consumer privacy by filing a lawsuit against five television manufacturers for utilizing ad-targeting spyware without user consent.

The state of Texas has taken legal action against Sony, Samsung, LG, Hisense, and TCL, accusing them of monitoring viewers' screen activities without permission. This surveillance is carried out using Automated Content Recognition (ACR), a technology that functions by creating digital fingerprints of watched content and comparing them to a database.

Often likened to an audio recognition service for videos, ACR's primary goal is not entertainment but rather to analyze your viewing patterns to benefit advertisers. According to a statement from Paxton, this technology has the capability to snapshot a TV display every half-second, track your viewing in real-time, and send the gathered data back to the manufacturers covertly.

LG Ad Solutions has highlighted how ACR allows advertisers to pinpoint audiences based on what is watched, including specific shows, networks, apps, and genres. This technology can also identify user purchases, monitor gamers' behaviors, and locate individual viewers down to city or zip code level.

Although TVs should offer options to disable such tracking, the lawsuit argues that companies like LG use misleading tactics to persuade users to enable ACR, obscuring its implications with complex legalese that many might overlook or not comprehend.

Paxton's statement draws attention to the Chinese roots of Hisense and TCL, noting potential risks in data usage policies exacerbated by China's National Security Law, which might enable the Chinese government to access U.S. consumer data.