Telescreen watch: Vizio adds spyware to its TVs


If you own a Vizio TV that's updated recently, beware: its firmware adds "Smart Interactivity," a cute name for spyware that records your viewing choices and inserts additional "bonus features" (ads) into your viewing.

Have no fear, though, as "Smart Interactivity" is governed by Vizio's privacy policy, which allows them to share your viewing choices with anyone they want, for any purpose, and to aggregate them with other information.

You know that business about how "If you aren't paying, you're not the customer, you're the product?" In the Internet of Things world, even if you are paying, you're still the product.

Smart Interactivity is a new feature on your VIZIO Smart TV that can intelligently recognize linear television and other content shown on the screen and in the future may display accompanying interactive features such as bonus features related to the content you are viewing, the ability to vote in polls, or advertisements that match your interests.

How to turn on or off Smart Interactivity [Vizio]