Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed lawsuits against five television manufacturers, accusing them of “spying on Texas residents” through content recognition software.

Separate lawsuits name televisions produced by Sony, Samsung, LG, Hisense, and TCL, describing them as part of a “mass surveillance system” that uses Automated Content Recognition (ACR) technology to collect personal data for targeted advertising, according to the filings.

ACR uses visual and audio data to determine what a user is watching on their television, including TV shows and movies on streaming services and cable television, YouTube videos, Blu-ray discs, and more. Attorney General Paxton claims that ACR also intercepts feeds from security cameras and doorbells, media files transmitted via Apple AirPlay or Google Cast, as well as images from other devices connected to a television’s HDMI port, such as laptops and gaming consoles.

According to Paxton, Samsung and Hisense take screenshots of the television screen “every 500 milliseconds.” The lawsuit alleges that TV manufacturers transmit viewing data to each company “without the user’s knowledge or consent.”

Paxton also expressed concern over the ties of TCL and Hisense to China, as both companies are headquartered there. Previously, in 2017, Vizio — now owned by Walmart — paid $2.2 million to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and the state of New Jersey over similar allegations related to ACR.

ORIENT