‘Invasive, deceptive, and unlawful’: Texas says your TV is tracking you illegally, and is suing to stop the dreaded Automatic Content Recognition

Submitted ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨throws_lemy@reddthat.com⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.techradar.com/televisions/your-tv-is-a-mass-surveillance-system-says-texas-and-the-state-is-suing-lg-samsung-hisense-tcl-and-more-to-stop-it

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a suit on Monday against Samsung, Sony, LG, TCL, and Hisense, claiming in a press release that they "have been unlawfully collecting personal data through Automated Content Recognition (“ACR”) technology.”

Paxton goes on to label ACR as “an uninvited, invisible digital invader,” and in one of the five separately filed suits, he calls Samsung TVs “a mass surveillance system.”

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WhatGodIsMadeOf@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Bruh every single aspect of modern life is invasive deceptive and basically unlawful. I don’t want to be a part of it anymore.

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- MasterBlaster@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Another angry upvote for you.
  
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edgemaster72@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
5 quick bribes later:

Ken Paxton and Governor Greg Abbott announce new initiative to replace all Texans’ TVs with ones equipped with ACR, “to protect children from harmful content”

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- Agent641@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Hmm yes you see we’ve realised that in order to prosecute the microscopic fraction or people who might be inexplicably watching CSAM on their smart TV, we need to spy on every single person on the planet.
  
  And since we have that data anyway,we’re gonna monetize the ever loving fuck out of it.
  
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  - Tollana1234567@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    most people arnt watching csam on tv anyways, its on thier PCs or whatever they can use as a burner.
    
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- Fmstrat@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  It can detect porn. They won’t be bribed on this one.
  
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DrakeAlbrecht@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

However, it’s also possible that during setup, the TV may have asked if we’d like “an enhanced and personalized viewing experience.” Who wouldn’t say yes to that?

I dunno, anyone who actually reads it? “Enhanced and personalized” always means spyware. Always.

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- Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Oh people like you make my head hurt. Not because you’re wrong, because you’re not. You’re entirely right here.
  
  The reason people like you make my head hurt is because you live in this self isolated bubble where you think everyone else is mentally on the same page as you.
  
  You’re baffled that anyone would agree to that checkbox, because anyone who reads it would understand as you understand that it’s not in your best interest.
  
  Whereas I’M baffled that you think hardly anyone reads the EULA of anything.
  
  Google could literally put in their EULA “user agrees to chop off their genitals and walk barefoot on hot coals”. People would still agree and check yes. Why? Because they never read it. They just click the thing that lets them do the thing and use the thing. Thats as far as 99% go with EULAs.
  
  I’ve watched people like you in person complain that everybody doesn’t do things their way. And while that way is, in general, a better way than is currently being handled, it all falls apart on one key aspect to not understanding the world. That important key being that the world does not see things through your eyes. They do not think of things from your perspective. But instead of taking action to create a world with better ideas being practiced, you sit on the sidelines, watching as the world does what the world will do, and thats be influenced by others. That is what humanity has always been. That’s what it will always be. But in the last 200 years, instead of being influenced by the ideas of a community upbringing, and structure, and morals, it is now, and for all of our lives, been influenced by the ultra rich. The 1%.
  
  We’ve fallen into a world where a persons worth is equal to their net worth. A world where celebrities and ultra rich businessmen are celebrated rather than shunned. Entire genres of music where the sole message is “I have money, therefore bitches fuck me”. And the masses flock to it, because they have adopted that message as their own.
  
  Here you sit. Not having fallen for the basic tricks that are played on society. That alone gives you a huge step up, to rise above the glass ceiling, break through, and bring changes needed to this world.
  
  Instead, you ponder why no one else recognizes there is a glass ceiling. You question why others aren’t doing things the way you would, while offering no resistence of substance.
  
  Everyone wants to complain about shrinkflation, but nobody wants to stop buying the product. If they change the formula, or the price, or the portion size, or whatever, and suddenly they have 0 purchases, things go back how they were real fucking quick. It is up to us, as the ones who see what is happening to educate those around us. To filter out the static noise of the internet’s social media. To teach our loved ones that they are being ripped off. Stop buying “smart” tv’s. Teach those around you to only buy dumb tv’s. And if there’s no dumb tv’s on sale, then there’s no tv’s to buy. And if they keep not selling dumb tv’s, you keep not buying. You teach those around you to keep not buying.
  
  This is how you fight the war against the elite. Not with guns, but with wallets that refuse to open. They can’t take our money unless we agree to buy their goods.
  
  But we’ll never get to that point from the sidelines.
  
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  - DrakeAlbrecht@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    That was a staggeringly large number of words relative to the number of things you actually said.
    
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  - A_norny_mousse@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    tl;dr: I think I’m just going to press OK on this ~~EULA~~ wall of text.
    
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  - ripcord@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Oh ok
    
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  - demonsword@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    
    This is how you fight the war against the elite. Not with guns, but with wallets that refuse to open. They can’t take our money unless we agree to buy their goods.
    
    No, this cannot work. Their wallets are much, much bigger than almost all of us combined.
    
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  - bold_atlas@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    
    A world where celebrities and ultra rich businessmen are celebrated rather than shunned.
    
    Is this AI? Because it looks like AI…
    
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- UnspecificGravity@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  If the question is vague bullshit like this, the answer is “no”.
  
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- Agent641@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Techgoblin doublespeak should be illegal
  
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- Raiderkev@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Yeah, 100% decline anything that asks for personalized anything.
  
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- Blackmist@feddit.uk ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  What the user sees:
  
  Do you want to use this thing you paid for?
  
  [I agree] [Go into a complicated menu that doesn’t matter]
  
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- unconfirmedsourcesDOTgov@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  You should try asking people about the last EULA they read the next time you’re at a party. You’re gonna be blown away.
  
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MasterBlaster@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Since this is Texas, I’m predicting the suit will be settled once they secure a contract that ensures they get copies of every collection in Texas, indexed by name, address, and if available, SSN in perpetuity.

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- RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  And if they watch liberal or spanish-language programming.
  
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  - Johnmannesca@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    So basically everyone far enough South? Narrows down pretty easily once you can determine where Tejano radio stations are broadcast, no awkwardly invasive tech required at all, just good old classic detective work that only requires a modicum of critical thought!
    
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- pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  They need to identify threats to Texas democracy: specifically anyone who turns off their TV during an episode of Walker: Texas Ranger.
  
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  - Crashumbc@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    It still upsets me that Chucky turned out to be such a horrible shit strain of a human…
    
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- luciferofastora@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I mean, once they’re a state-sanctioned invader, it’s not longer illegal
  
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- Tollana1234567@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  palintir sure wants this data.
  
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iopq@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Why can’t you guys take a win? Just say it’s good Texas is doing this

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- x_pikl_x@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Because the likely outcome will be a shady backroom business deal where they take a cut or just a payoff and you’ll never hear about it again. It’s Texas.
  
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  - Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    No. The likely outcome is this. I’m going to use fake numbers for the sake of demonstrating a concept.
    
    Samsung spies on you. From the data, they can harvest $500 million dollars throughout Texas tv watchers sending info back to South Korea.
    
    Texas says “Hey! Whoa! You can’t do that! You better stop or we’ll fine you $20,000 dollars!”
    
    Samsung says “Ok”, and keeps doing it. Pays the fine, and takes it to court. They lose the case, but cost Texas $15,000 of court costs just to win. Then they keep doing it.
    
    Now Texas thinks twice about charging the fee, because last time they only got $5,000 after defending themselves in court.
    
    Meanwhile Samsung just views it as the cost of doing business. And carries on.
    
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- MasterBlaster@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  It is because of who is running Texas. We don’t believe them. It’s either kabuki, or a means to extract something from the corporations while blowing smoke up our asses.
  
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- ayyy@sh.itjust.works ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Because the people making these claims have an extremely consistent record of siding with rich donors instead of their citizens. They lie have a consistent track record of being caught lying. Trust is earned, and Ken Paxton has consistently done the opposite of that.
  
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- devedeset@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Because at the same time they’re trying to implement age verification for app stores while also very vaguely defining what an app store is.
  
  The Act defines an “App Store” as “a publicly available Internet website, software application, or other electronic service that distributes software applications from the owner or developer of a software application to the user of a mobile device.”
  
  So… what constitutes a mobile device? Who is an owner/developer? Does github have to implement age verification for mobile devices?
  
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pHr34kY@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I personally submitted Hisense’s ACR servers to a popular DNS adblock list that’s used by a lot of products.

And just like that, anyone with a VIDAA TV hiding behind a pi-hole went dark.

We should really make sure every TV gets checked.

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- Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  I wonder how long it will take until they start using DoH and conveniently make the TV fail if it’s blocked…
  
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  - pHr34kY@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    You’d have to block whatever DoH server it’s using. They usually fall back to regular DNS. I’ve found that a Chromecast will use Google DNS, but will fall back to LAN DNS when blocked.
    
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CriticalMiss@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Looks like the telly industry missed a payment this month

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_cryptagion@anarchist.nexus ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
guess samsung didn’t pay their bribe on time.

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adespoton@lemmy.ca ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
It’s projection. Paxton doesn’t like who’s benefiting.

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- BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Or extortion. He makes a stink, they make some campaign donations, and he backs off or gives them a slap on the wrist.
  
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  - CmdrShepard49@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    He’s following his fellow criminal and messiah Trump who has been exporting companies left and right.
    
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- NOT_RICK@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Yup. He just sued the EPIC medical record company this past week or so claiming they are a monopoly. Took me 5 minutes to figure out he’s just mad Epic allows their hospital clients to restrict parents from accessing some of their kids medical information once they’re past the age of 12. I don’t think I have to spell out what he doesn’t want kids to be able to hide from their parents. It’s disgusting. There’s always an ulterior motive with this fuck
  
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  - RunningInRVA@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Source? I’m interested as I work closely with Epic. They have a monopoly but whether they are being anti-competitive is the question.
    
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BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Those Texas MAGAs are just sorry they didn’t think of it first. Give them a bribe, they’ll go away.

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Dyskolos@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I’d actually prefer a dumb TV, we only use jellyfin anyway and that could be served by some raspy or similar. But they’re extinct it seems. At least modern ones with 4 or 8k.

I hate this dumbing down of everything.

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- MasterBlaster@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Yes, I couldn’t find one when my old LG from 2012 died. I did not activate wifi, added TV antenna. I already have Chromecast TV so I’m tracked enough, thanks.
  
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  - Dyskolos@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Really sad. We could even save a good portion of bucks due to all the shit noone needs. I can only imagine the crap pre-installed on Samsung TVs or other of those horrible bloat-brands.
    
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- LodeMike@lemmy.today ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Sceptre
  
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- Alpha71@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Best Buy Insignia series are dumb. At least the three 40 inch ones I have.
  
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  - Dyskolos@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Non USA here, so no best buy. Got a google-tv now with basically nothing on it, heavy firewalling that device off and using only jellyfin. I hate it but…
    
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  - A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Thats good to know… before finding out about that just now, I thought Scepter was the only brand left that made dumb TVs.
    
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shalafi@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
If it’s illegal why isn’t the state executive branch making arrests? Why isn’t the state legislative banning the sale of these devices?

If I was selling an illegal product, they wouldn’t be dragging my happy ass through court to get relief from my actions.

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- Passerby6497@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Because corporations are only people when it comes to good things. If it’s a bad thing, corporate veil protects the people doing the crimes because they have (what no one who puts any thought to it would believe is) plausible deniability because they never told people to do illegal things, they just said they wanted something done and let their underlings figure it out.
  
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- _cryptagion@anarchist.nexus ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  yeah, but you wouldn’t be able to settle for a lucrative deal that the Texan elite can personally benefit from. that’s the difference.
  
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jali67@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
I’m surprised Texas is doing the right thing here

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- Crashumbc@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Manipulating stocks and extorting companies?
  
  This is a shakedown nothing more. Same as the Tylenol causes autism things last month.
  
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  - jali67@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    How is this equivalent? Unless ACR is not actually violating anything and truly harmless, I don’t think this is equivalent at all.
    
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gedaliyah@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Rare Ken Paxton win.

Something something about a broken clock being right twice a day.

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- edgemaster72@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Ken Paxton is more like finding a random page from a page a day calendar and having it be the right date but from a different year
  
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tomjuggler@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Smart TV is such bs.

At home we have a computer monitor connected to raspberry pi which can do literally every type of content including games while running pi-hole and device backups in the background, VPN included. Ain’t nobody tracking my family…

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- Dasus@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  
  Ain’t nobody tracking my family…
  
  Wrongthink detected, employing field-agents.
  
  ^/s
  
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SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Does this dude just eat lead paint everyday

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- treesquid@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Yes, but he’s very much correct here. Paint-eating clock syndrome.
  
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  - Agent641@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    He probably just realised his TV now knows about all the feral porn he’s been watching and is in damage control.
    
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crystalmerchant@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Mass surveillance system? Yes, of course. That’s the whole point. Tracking and profiling you to charge more for ads.

Lmao these smart TVs are basically the screens in the book 1984, in every house.

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paraphrand@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Do YouTube next. Do websites next.

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- Pechente@feddit.org ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Websites have already been „done“ by the GDPR and the companies just implemented the measures with a clear malicious intent, bullying their users into compliance and blaming the horrible cookie banners they implemented on the EU.
  
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  - captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Well I mean, it was implemented about as well as California Prop 65, which had the effect of printing “This product contains chemicals known in the state of California to cause cancer” on literally everything ever made.
    
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  - phutatorius@lemmy.zip ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Yeah, I was responsible for a moderately high-volume site, and getting it GDPR compliant wasn’t all that much effort. That’s because we’re not scumbags abusing our users’ personal information.
    
    And yeah, the cookie-banners bullshit isn’t required, it was just passive aggression by sites butthurt that they couldn’t intrusively track their users so easily anymore.
    
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lmagitem@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Literally 1984

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Skankhunt420@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Anyone remember Weeping Angel?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vault_7

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ikidd@lemmy.world ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Someday, maybe, the Paxton-bot will become self-aware.

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- Tollana1234567@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  one paxtons tie is long enough to reach his knees.
  
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