Texas is suing all of the big TV makers for spying on what you watch

Posted by tortilla 12/16/2025

Texas is suing all of the big TV makers for spying on what you watch(www.theverge.com)

1268 points | 642 commentspage 5

he0001 12/19/2025|

Isn’t this a thing for all providers? YouTube definitely spies on what you look at and Netflix knows as well. Or is this just because a TV actually doesn’t provide the content, just the view? And is there’s a difference if you have a streaming device like Roku?

lingrush4 12/19/2025|

Content providers knowing when I watch their content is not concerning to me. They're on the other side of a transaction with me; they have as much a right to store the details of the transaction as I do. Even Blockbuster had that information.

What's concerning is when third parties start snooping on transactions that they are not involved in.

cma 12/18/2025||

Wiretapping laws should apply; you could have an HDMI capture card hooked up to camera with mic etc.

wtcactus 12/19/2025||

Sincerely, for anyone technical competent, I don't even see the reason to connect your TV to the internet (or even the local network).

I do have a smart TV, but I have no use for it since my NVIDIA Shield does all the lifting.

A good enough android TV dongle will cost €30. So...

realo 12/19/2025||

Hello Texas!

What about cars? Tesla, in particular does record an awful lot of personal data about you...

tonyplee 12/18/2025||

Any good options for wifi/wire gateway (opensource) that can filter and block spying?

a456463 12/20/2025|

https://pi-hole.net/

queuebert 12/19/2025||

The sheer amount of compute spent on advertising on this planet boggles my mind.

padjo 12/19/2025|

Also all the smart people spending a career trying to get other people to buy things that they don’t want or need l, the relentless consumption of which degrades the very environment which supports us. It’d be funny if you didn’t have to play the game too.

emsign 12/19/2025||

Thanks, Texas.

duxup 12/16/2025||

I wish my Apple TV could take multiple pass through inputs.

From there I could pick an app or input on the Apple TV and then I'm good.

That's all I want, nothing these TVs try to provide I want, quite the opposite.

I loathe ending up on the TV menu...

smileybarry 12/16/2025||

That still doesn't escape ACR, AFAIK. These "smart" TVs still capture screenshots from HDMI inputs.

That's one of the reasons I only buy Sony for years now. ACR & the like are opt-out at the first terms/privacy screen, and you can even go into Android/Google TV settings and just disable the APK responsible. (Samba something-something)

danudey 12/16/2025|||

I googled how to disable ACR on my new Samsung TV. Followed the instructions only to find out that it was disabled already. That, combined with a built-in physical microphone switch (which I noticed in the quick start guide before I'd even attached the wall mount) made me quite impressed with Samsung off the bat.

It does have some weird behaviors, though, like occasionally letting me know it has some kind of AI features or something, or bringing up a pop-up on the screen letting my kid know how to use the volume control on the remote every time he uses the volume control on the remote for the first time since power-on.

Still, a pretty decent TV nonetheless.

drnick1 12/18/2025|||

It's better not to connect the TV to the Internet at all. This will solve most of your problems. Use a Linux HTPC to stream content (not an Apple box, they collect telemetry and profile users like others).

aidenn0 12/18/2025||

What's your HTPC setup? I used Kodi for a while, but gave up on it as unsuitable as a frontend for netflix et. al.

a456463 12/20/2025|||

I just use a plain linux/windows PC + Pi-Hole depending on the family member using it.

drnick1 12/20/2025|||

KODI is terrible for streaming and operating systems built around it are far too limited. For now the best option seems to be a plain Linux desktop, upscaled, and used with an airmouse remote. Keep an eye on this however:

https://github.com/KDE/plasma-bigscreen

isk517 12/18/2025|||

I loathe whenever an older family member ends up at the TV menu, since chances are they will not be able to find their way back to whatever external device they were trying to use the TV as a monitor for. TVs using android seem to be irritated that you even plan on using some external device plugged into the HDMI ports.

ternus 12/18/2025||

You may want to look into an AVR (audio/video receiver), also known as a home theater receiver. Aside from powering speakers, that's their core function: connect a variety of inputs (HDMI, AirPlay, radio, composite, etc. etc.) to one or more outputs.

stevetron 12/19/2025||

Maybe I'm a little slow, but assuming that everything I watch on TV is copyrighted content, wouldn't that make every screen-grab a DRM violation?

8bitsrule 12/19/2025|

I remember a time when the word "smart" referred to a high level of intelligence. Rather than a marketing ploy aimed at the innocent.

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