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)

1262 points | 642 commentspage 6

tyjen 6 days ago|

It's absurd, I've blocked outgoing connections for all home devices and appliances by default. The printer and TV were some of the worst culprits.

mmooss 6 days ago|

How do you watch streaming content? If you choose a movie in Netflix, I expect it makes an outgoing connection to Netflix's servers.

a456463 4 days ago||

They typically use different dns domain and subdomains or subpaths, because the same server cannot ingest analytics and stream data at the same time. So, keep roku.com but block scribe.roku.com

mmooss 4 days ago||

I understand that. It would seem to take a lot of experimentation: Netflix has a lot of servers and domains, and at their scale many could be involved in any interaction.

p0w3n3d 5 days ago||

I wonder why it takes a one state to wake up legally speaking. Why the Federal Government is not speaking about this... Or EU for that matter

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 6 days ago|||

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 6 days ago||

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 4 days ago|||

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

drnick1 4 days ago|||

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 6 days ago|||

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 6 days ago||

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.

richvos 4 days ago||

Can you stop this type of activity with DNS blocking or is it just inescapable?

stevenjgarner 6 days ago||

Did they exclude the makers of video projectors (Epson, BenQ, Optoma, etc) simply because the market segment is too small?

kelseyfrog 12/16/2025||

Pro plaintif not only because of privacy concerns, but if it raises the cost of televisions by introducing a production inefficiency, it is one step against the Baumol Effect.

jeffbee 6 days ago|

Imagine looking around in the year 2025 and concluding that TV prices are high.

xnx 6 days ago||

It blew my mind when TVs started being cheaper than windows per square inch.

MandieD 6 days ago|||

I'd never thought of it that way, but you're absolutely right, particularly in Germany, by a factor of at least 3-4. 50-55" mid-range TV: plenty under 400 EUR. Double-glazed window about that size, custom-made (because just about all windows in Germany are custom-made): 1200 EUR, and that was about six years ago - I shudder to think what it would be now.

xnx 6 days ago||

Similar to when solar panels became cheaper than fencing.

sidewndr46 5 days ago|||

When you consider the differing regulation and applications, it makes a great deal of sense. Just making a window in the US can cost less than $10 if you hand assemble it. Making a window that conforms to all building regulations in your particular area is a huge undertaking that involves highly specialized equipment.

poppafuze 1 day ago||

They'll introduce a "privacy-class" TV soon enough.

mmooss 6 days ago||

Why focus on TV makers and not include social media and other computer/phone surveillance?

platevoltage 5 days ago|

Probably because Ken Paxton has no issue with surveillance.

firesteelrain 5 days ago||

US needs something like GPDR.

jmward01 6 days ago|

I've said it before and I will probably say it again, this is digital assault and should be thought of and treated that way. Companies, and their officers, should be treated criminally for things like this. Most people do not know/understand this is happening and that is by design. Is this view a little hyperbolic? Possibly, but the privacy scales are so far tipped against the average person right now that we need more extreme views and actions to start fixing things.

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