Jun 30, 2019

Privacy concerns grow with Smart TVs

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Adapted from a chart by Comscore OTT Intelligence, March 2019; Chart: Axios Visuals

Of all the hardware options consumers can use to access over-the-top television, Smart TVs are experiencing the highest level of growth, according to Comscore's latest State of OTT presentation.

Why it matters: Smart TVs face the same data privacy vulnerabilities as other internet-connected devices.

  • A tweet from Samsung last week (which was later removed) asked users to regularly scan Samsung Smart TVs for viruses. It wasn't the first time Smart TVs were the subject of privacy scares. The FTC fined Vizio in 2017 for collecting viewing data on 11 million TVs without users' knowledge.

The big picture: As Smart TVs become cheaper to produce, manufacturers are replacing standard TVs with ones that are internet-connected, similar to how standard mobile phone usage quickly pivoted to smart phone usage beginning about 11 years ago.

Go deeper: Smart TVs are watching us now

Go deeper

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  1. Global: Total confirmed cases as of 6 p.m. ET: 5,653,821 — Total deaths: 353,414 — Total recoveries — 2,325,989 — Map.
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  3. Public health: Fauci says data is "really quite evident" against hydroxychloroquine — Nearly half of Americans say someone in their household has delayed medical care.
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