Not to in any way be dismissive of what Vizio and its partners are doing, but as some of the secondary links communicate, these types of practices have become increasingly common. There is collusion within related industries to explicitly build support for such capabilities into the technology fabric itself. Watermarking would send interactive broadcast features down other pipes into homes http://www.tvtechnology.com/news/00...-verance-and-sony-technology-for-atsc-/275457
Vizio may soon inform customers when its smart TVs are spying on them September 7, 2018 https://www.theverge.com/circuitbre...tv-spying-pop-up-notification-data-collection
Lawyers for Vizio Smart TV owners propose final deal, around $20 per person Years after ProPublica exposed TV maker, lawyers will make millions from lawsuit October 5, 2018 https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy...ners-propose-final-deal-around-20-per-person/
That's why some law firms love class actions. So with a $17 million settlement, attorneys get up to a third, or whatever they can convince the judge to grant. If all 16 million class members submitted claims, each would get ~$1 But they guesstimate that only 2%-5% will submit claims, which means $13 to $31 each (more if the attorneys get less than a third of the total). It may seem unfair. But otherwise, class actions wouldn't happen often, because it wouldn't be profitable enough for attorneys.
Court says Vizio’s secret smart TV tracking class-action settlement can move forward January 7, 2019 https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/07/vizio-settlement-moves-forward/
If you own this smart TV, you are owed a chunk of settlement cash February 16, 2019 https://www.komando.com/happening-now/545962/vizio-smart-tv-settlement
Vizio Accuses Insurers of Failing to Defend $17 Million Privacy Case July 31, 2020 https://variety.com/2020/digital/news/vizio-navigators-privacy-insurance-lawsuit-1234722193/
