Someone is/has been/will be Watching You
Skyworth (751.HK) is a global brand with a ~4% to 5% share of the global TV market, but it seems that they have run into a bit of a problem after it was discovered that an application on Skyworth TVs has been collecting data concerning devices on family networks and is sending them to a 3rd party data company that ‘cooperates’ with international advertisers, media companies, TV stations, and other customers, supplying such data and analysis derived from your Skyworth Smart TV. The company running the data collection is Beijing Gouzheng Data Technology (pvt), a company that counts Skyworth as one of its investors.
The software was installed as part of the TV set’s Android OS, and collected data every 10 minutes that included the name (hostname) of his computer, his network interface card, the IP address and user names of any devices connected to the network, along with other local wi-fi networks that were nearby. The data then became part of a container that holds such information from over 100m smart TVs, and is sold to other TV brands for targeted advertising according to Gozen Data, although some Chinese journalists indicate that such software is part of ‘Project Xueliang’, a program of the Chinese government that uses the software for 24 hour video surveillance, especially in rural areas, that also collects information about contacts and social media interactions.
While we cannot verify that the information collected is being used for nefarious purposes, it is not the first time TV brands have been accused of collecting user information without the knowledge of users. In 2017 Vizio (VZIO) reached a $2.2m settlement with the FTC over the capture of what users were watching on a minute by minute basis sold that information, including attached demographic data to others, without the knowledge of the user. Vizio is required to notify the user that such data is being collected and offering to opt out the user. Samsung was forced to reveal that some of its smart TV models were ‘capturing voice commands and associated texts so that we can provide you with Voice Recognition features and evaluate and improve the features,’ and LG (066570.KS) was ‘looking into’ claims that its TVs back in 2013 were logging what you were watching and streaming.
Skyworth yesterday released an official statement indicating that it disabled the service on all Skyworth TVs, launched related investigations, and terminated it cooperative relationship with Beijing Gouzheng Data Technology, although it mentioned that the data collected was used for ratings research services. Skyworth ‘sincerely apologizes to the majority of users and states that the data collection will improve and the user’s privacy policy will be perfected to ensure that information is collected in accordance with the user’s authorization within the scope of legal compliance.‘ No mention of any change in the company’s investment in Gouzheng Data.
The software was installed as part of the TV set’s Android OS, and collected data every 10 minutes that included the name (hostname) of his computer, his network interface card, the IP address and user names of any devices connected to the network, along with other local wi-fi networks that were nearby. The data then became part of a container that holds such information from over 100m smart TVs, and is sold to other TV brands for targeted advertising according to Gozen Data, although some Chinese journalists indicate that such software is part of ‘Project Xueliang’, a program of the Chinese government that uses the software for 24 hour video surveillance, especially in rural areas, that also collects information about contacts and social media interactions.
While we cannot verify that the information collected is being used for nefarious purposes, it is not the first time TV brands have been accused of collecting user information without the knowledge of users. In 2017 Vizio (VZIO) reached a $2.2m settlement with the FTC over the capture of what users were watching on a minute by minute basis sold that information, including attached demographic data to others, without the knowledge of the user. Vizio is required to notify the user that such data is being collected and offering to opt out the user. Samsung was forced to reveal that some of its smart TV models were ‘capturing voice commands and associated texts so that we can provide you with Voice Recognition features and evaluate and improve the features,’ and LG (066570.KS) was ‘looking into’ claims that its TVs back in 2013 were logging what you were watching and streaming.
Skyworth yesterday released an official statement indicating that it disabled the service on all Skyworth TVs, launched related investigations, and terminated it cooperative relationship with Beijing Gouzheng Data Technology, although it mentioned that the data collected was used for ratings research services. Skyworth ‘sincerely apologizes to the majority of users and states that the data collection will improve and the user’s privacy policy will be perfected to ensure that information is collected in accordance with the user’s authorization within the scope of legal compliance.‘ No mention of any change in the company’s investment in Gouzheng Data.
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