AUSTIN — Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a major victory against Samsung, halting the company’s use of technology that allowed it to spy on Texans in their own homes.
Samsung is one of five major TV companies found to have been collecting personal user data through Automated Content Recognition (“ACR”) technology. This technology captured screenshots of its TVs every 500 milliseconds without the knowledge and consent of consumers, violating Texas law.
The temporary restraining order prevents Samsung, and all others working with the company, from continuing to use, sell, transfer, collect or share ACR data relating to Texas consumers.
The ruling court found that there was good cause to believe that Samsung’s actions violated, or were likely to violate, the Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
“The days of Big Tech digitally invading Americans’ homes and spying on them are over,” Paxton said. “The right to privacy is fundamental, yet for too long smart TV manufacturers like Samsung were secretly using advanced technology to spy on Texans without their knowledge.”
After filing the lawsuit, Paxton said, “we’ve secured a court order stopping this unlawful monitoring. This is a major win for Texans and for digital privacy.”
This win follows an order secured against Hisense, which is connected to the Chinese Communist Party, to stop the company from using ACR technology to spy on Texans.
The AG’s office has sued five major television manufacturers for deploying this technology to collect sensitive consumer data without proper consent.
Comment
Comments