Campaigns Can Now See What You Watch on TV. It’s Changing Everything.
www.notus.org
Smart TVs that track what people watch and how they watch it give political campaigns a new trove of data to exploit, with little transparency on how it’s happening.

Televisions that can stream platforms like Hulu or Max usually come loaded with technology that collects information on what viewers are watching, and buyers consent to have their viewing tracked when they open their new TV and click through terms of service agreements. Sometimes, data firms can connect those viewing habits to a voter’s phone or laptop via their IP address, promising a trove of information about an individual and the ability to track them across screens.

Other times, firms focus on dividing households into groups based on what they’re watching, how they use their TVs and how many campaign ads they’re seeing, which is a boon to political campaigns eager to target specific groups of voters. Connecting this data to voter files is increasingly a focus — a move that adds individual voting habits into the mix.

  • @henfredemarsEnglish
    50•9 days ago

    The year is 2024. I purchase a nice TV to shun nearly all of its features and never connect it to the internet because it’s designed to be actively malicious.

    • borari
      15•9 days ago

      While I get your point, the TV isn’t nice because of its app features. If it’s a nice TV it’s because of its display panel and features like upscaling, interpolation, etc., and it’s being subsidized by those built-in apps and tracking functionality.

      By purchasing a nice TV, never using the built-in apps, and never connecting the TV to the Internet (or better yet connecting it to a segregated VLAN and dropping literally all traffic to/from the TV), you’re costing the company money on that TV set. Or probably more accurately you’re like the credit card user that maximizes their point rewards while paying off the balance every paycheck, you’re profiting off people who are in debt to their credit card company for whatever reason.

      To be clear, I have a G series LG OLED that is not only in its own VLAN with no traffic allowed in or out, but I drop all DNS that isn’t coming from my pihole at the WAN port on my edge router, I watch stuff from a secondary device, and most everything I watch is pirated and streamed locally anyway, so I’m definitely subsidizing my entertainment with the privacy invasion of others. If I could get an OLED tv without any of the built in OS stuff I absolutely would, and would be willing to pay more for a SKU with that stuff stripped out, but afaik that’s just not possible.

      • @BroBot9000@lemmy.worldEnglish
        13•9 days ago

        If you can’t produce a product without subsidizing it by pumping it full of data tracking nonsense then you don’t deserve to be a fucking company.

        Fuck that and you know it. They only produce this garbage because they get more value out of your data not because they can’t fucking manufacture a good affordable tv.

        • @porous_grey_matter@lemmy.ml
          5•9 days ago

          99% of people will buy the cheaper TV with tracking, it probably not sustainable to sell the expensive one without. This stuff just needs to be banned

          • @ForgotAboutDre@lemmy.world
            2•9 days ago

            Not many manufacturers would sell a TV with tracking and one without. The one without would be leaving money on the table, so even the premium very expensive tvs are tracking.

        • Possibly linuxEnglish
          1•9 days ago

          The problem isn’t just subsidization. It is that they make way more money over time with ads. One time profit vs long term profit

          • @BroBot9000@lemmy.worldEnglish
            2•9 days ago

            Exactly! It’s more profitable for them to manufacture spyware over building a functional machine. There is no excusing their behaviour, they can manufacture a tv that’s good and affordable, they just won’t.

            Shit like this is why we need more antitrust laws and consumer protections. Break up some monopolies already!!

            • borari
              2•9 days ago

              Im sure they could pump out LED panels without spyware at pretty much the price they’re selling at now, sure. I have doubts they could produce OLED panels without the spyware garbage and keep them at an affordable price for someone making the median annual salary or lower in the US. You just have to look at OLED monitors to get a rough picture of this. A 34” OLED monitor sells for roughly the same price as a 48” OLED television.

              I’m not trying to excuse television manufacturers at all here, it’s bullshit and I hate it, I just don’t have much choice if I want a TV. I just try to be as invaluable as possible to them after that. I don’t see what monopolies have to do with anything here though, there’s a huge of TV manufacturers, from Sony, LG, and Samsung down to bottom of the barrel Chinese brands like TCL and stuff.

              Consumer protection laws that prevent data siphoning by TV manufacturers? Yes please. I’m just not sold on there being any antitrust/monopoly shenanigans going on.

      • @this@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        2•8 days ago

        Honestly, if I’m costing the company that made my TV money just because I refuse to let it track me, all the better. They deserve it for trying to crab that shit up my ass in the first place!

        • borari
          2•6 days ago

          I’m just basing on the fact that two identical OLED panels, one in a 32” LG monitor without the app features and the other in a 55” LG Television with the app features, are about equivalently priced. I could be totally wrong though idk. It quacks like a duck getting fucked ¯\(ツ)/¯