The Texas attorney general has settled a lawsuit with the U.S. unit of Samsung Electronics over the collection of "smart TV viewing data." Samsung Electronics will accordingly strengthen notices about how automatic content recognition (ACR) data is collected and used.
On the 27th, the Texas attorney general's office posted on its website that Attorney General Ken Paxton recently reached a settlement with Samsung Electronics over smart TV data collection practices, concluding the matter. Paxton had previously filed a lawsuit against Samsung Electronics over the TV industry's data collection practices.
Under the settlement, Samsung Electronics will provide Texas consumers with clearer and more detailed explanations about whether ACR data is collected and how it is used through a software update. The lawsuit was withdrawn as Samsung Electronics agreed to promptly implement related safeguards.
The Texas attorney general is currently pursuing lawsuits over smart TV data collection against Sony, LG Electronics, Hisense and TCL. Paxton said, "This settlement is an important step toward improving data collection practices in the smart TV industry," adding, "We highly value Samsung for proactively advancing this action." He added, "Some smart TV corporations continue illegal data collection targeting Texas residents and behave like digital intruders."