US senators Edward J Markey and Richard Blumenthal have made a formal request to the country’s Federal Trade Commission to investigate privacy concerns regarding Smart TVs.
Their concerns refer specifically to the collection of Smart TV users’ viewing habits. Markey and Blumenthal surmise that manufacturers aren’t being totally transparent about their practices and the manner in which the collected data may be used. Existing regulations don’t cover the collection of data via internet-connected TV services.
In their letter, the senators referred to a previous case where the FTC investigated manufacturer,Vizio, and came to an arrangement with the company to ensure user privacy wasn’t being compromised. Markey and Blumenthal have called on the FTC to continue this work with other Smart TV makers.
