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posted by mrpg on Thursday September 13 2018, @08:29AM   Printer-friendly
from the program-no-evil dept.

Submitted via IRC for FatPhil

If those who purchased Vizio Smart TVs haven't heard that their Internet-connected devices collected information without affirmative express consent, they may be finding out about it directly from their Smart TV.

On Wednesday, attorneys in a class action lawsuit against Vizio over its data collection and dissemination practices asked a California federal judge to extend the time to submit a motion for a preliminary settlement. The settlement was originally scheduled to be detailed publicly on Sept. 12, but now the parties say they require a delay. Why?

According to court papers, "The Parties are developing a class notice program with direct notification to the class through VIZIO Smart TV displays, which requires testing to make sure any TV notice can be properly displayed and functions as intended. The additional time requested will allow the parties to confirm that the notice program proposed in the motion for preliminary approval is workable and satisfies applicable legal standards."

Source: Source


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  • (Score: 4, Touché) by krishnoid on Thursday September 13 2018, @08:49AM

    by krishnoid (1156) on Thursday September 13 2018, @08:49AM (#734091)

    I knew we were heading for trouble when George Orwell's estate sold the sequel rights to 1984. This new version *sucks*.

  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:06AM (3 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:06AM (#734094) Journal

    The only Vizio in my home is used as a computer monitor. If it ever connects to the internet, it is VERY sneaky! Neither my router, nor my modem knows the monitor exists. There is nothing in the logs about any such device. My rather small network is pretty easy to keep an eye on. I have quickly identified each and every telephone that has attempted to connect to my WIFI, and there is no trace of any IOT devices attempting to connect. The Linux machine to which that monitor is connected is not configured to forward any communications from any IOT devices.

    If I receive any such notice, I'll be about as surprised as if the tree outside my front door started talking to me.

    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:11AM (2 children)

      by maxwell demon (1608) on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:11AM (#734095) Journal

      I don't expect this to be the case, but in principle, it also could have an embedded SIM card to communicate directly over the mobile network. That wouldn't show up on your home network.

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
      • (Score: 2) by MostCynical on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:50AM (1 child)

        by MostCynical (2589) on Thursday September 13 2018, @09:50AM (#734111) Journal

        Great, so now houses have to be faraday cages.
        Mobile calls *outside*, even when it is snowing.

        --
        "I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
        • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Aiwendil on Thursday September 13 2018, @11:13AM

          by Aiwendil (531) on Thursday September 13 2018, @11:13AM (#734138) Journal

          Not to worry, we are (unintentionally) getting there - the best thermal insulated windows for home use has a thin metallic coating, and so has the inner side of the best thermal insulator for residental buildings.

          Yup, here in Sweden they managed to build a couple of blocks as faraday cages by accident when they made sure the the insulation was good enough not to warrant radiators - they found it out when the people moving in complained about no cell phone reception unless they opened a window (in which case it was a strong signal) :)
          (They solved it by installing a leaky feeder)

  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday September 13 2018, @01:11PM (10 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Thursday September 13 2018, @01:11PM (#734214) Homepage Journal

    If your router/firewall isn't blocking internet traffic to or from your television, you should be ashamed.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 4, Touché) by takyon on Thursday September 13 2018, @02:02PM

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday September 13 2018, @02:02PM (#734238) Journal

      What's a "television"? Did you mean the Alexa-enabled wall-mounted all-in-one-display computing device?

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @02:08PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @02:08PM (#734243)

      Which is why spying devices will get access to the mobile data network as soon as practicable.

    • (Score: 2) by Hyper on Thursday September 13 2018, @11:24PM (3 children)

      by Hyper (1525) on Thursday September 13 2018, @11:24PM (#734543) Journal

      How do you stop such devices from connecting to an open AP?
      Can you stop it from sending data back to a server when you change the channel etc?

      • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday September 14 2018, @04:37AM (2 children)

        by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Friday September 14 2018, @04:37AM (#734703) Homepage Journal

        Disable wireless.
        Yes, block all non-LAN traffic from/to it at the router/modem and all is right with the world.

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @02:52PM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @02:52PM (#734849)

          Friend of mine asked the same question about his new credit card.
          Turns out there is a simple solution involving drilling a hole through the card to disable the antenna.

          • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday September 14 2018, @05:11PM

            by Freeman (732) on Friday September 14 2018, @05:11PM (#734912) Journal

            There is no "antenna" in your credit card.

            The "Magic" behind RFID:
            https://www.fda.gov/Radiation-EmittingProducts/RadiationSafety/ElectromagneticCompatibilityEMC/ucm116647.htm [fda.gov]

            RFID tags come in two flavors, Active and Passive. Generally you're going to be seeing Passive RFID tags, because you don't have to worry about including a battery in your product. That doesn't help in regards to the security of the contents of the RFID tag, but drilling a hole in your credit card to "disable the antenna" isn't what you're doing. You're just killing the RFID tag. Which may or may not be advisable. In any event, the RFID tag in your credit card isn't magically sending out signals on it's own.

            --
            Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @11:34PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 13 2018, @11:34PM (#734549)

      A recent article discusses how just opening Google Maps on an android device runs a GPS position capture even if GPS is disable in the settings.
      Why Gooogle hasn't been sued over this I don't know.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @02:07AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 14 2018, @02:07AM (#734652)

        They haven't been sued because corporations can get away with anything.
        This is the low-regulation USA where there are no consequences for big companies.
        Hell, you can put out a "research in progress" technology on the road, call it "auto pilot", and then blame the driver for not driving the car himself when the "auto pilot" kills someone!

    • (Score: 2) by KritonK on Friday September 14 2018, @08:05AM (1 child)

      by KritonK (465) on Friday September 14 2018, @08:05AM (#734734)

      If you don't want your television to connect to the internet and you have connected it to your router/firewall, then you should really be ashamed!

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