Vizio Inc. was caught collecting, storing, and sharing with others the viewing habits of Vizio smart television owners. This was all done without the owner's consent from February 2014 through February 2017 and supposedly all owners were affected if they ever allowed it to connect to the internet - which I can't imagine who this wouldn't apply to.
The settlement reward is paltry compared to their blatant privacy violations and the profit they likely made from consumer data while breaking the law. You can file an electronic claim here. I'm sharing this because you only have until April 29th to file a claim.
It never occurred to me before buying a smart television that my every entertainment move could be monetized like that. Do all/most smart television manufacturers do this? If so, I wonder why the other manufacturers aren't facing class-action lawsuits too.
Rusty Messages: 1206 Registered: May 2018 Location: Kansas City Missouri
Illuminati (3rd Degree)
Reminds one of another fraud case. That never went anywhere. The economic meltdown of 2008. Banks packaging fraudulent inflated housing loans for sale to investors. The banks were bailed out, and the "Bankster's", tip toe'd through the tulips richer and bigger than ever, and never faced any jurisprudence. The people on the hook for all this were the home owners that were caught up in this crime. They lost everything and were never given a chance to have a reasonable reconfiguration of their original inflated loans to the property's true cost. Bankrupt housing was sold off to holding companies which made money for them and for the banks. Which had caused the mess to begin with. The economy tanked, people suffered, and has never gotten back to where it was prior.
These big class action lawsuits too give but chump change to the victims as well. The law firm makes a pile of money. Then the corporation gets to claim no wrongdoing. Given a slap on the wrist.
Makes you wonder why people are so apathetic to what goes on. Right under our noses. Maybe cause our noses are on the grindstone so much.
gofar99 Messages: 1957 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Add to the mix the ability of CATV companies to track what you do. Plus every web site can do a lot of tracking etc. The web knows more about you than you do. You exist in many places as profiles and they can be used for purposes you might not want. Add in the numerous data breaches. Personal privacy is pretty much an illusion any more.
I applied for a loan lately, then I got a car loan a few hours after my loan application. The funny thing is that the message was not connected with the bank I asked for a loan because the message I received was redirected to another phone number.
Selling information is a very lucrative business nowadays. What is sad is that our information is being sold without our consent.