[CamperBob2]

Thats why it is opt-in.... just like every other form of in-line marketing. Are you expecting a check from google for your use of Gmail?

Hmm, I may not be entirely up to speed on what happened here. If so, I apologize. The lead paragraph of the story says (in part) that Vizio "installed software on its TVs to collect viewing data on 11 million consumer TVs without consumers’ knowledge or consent," and that's what my comment was based on.

So if the service was "opt-in," as with the Nielsen business model, then why are they being forced to pay a seven-figure fine?

[samstave]

"installed software" is a bit of a misnomer - its a feature baked into the firmware, when you first setup the TV it asks you for permission to do enhanced content recognition. If you say yes, it will enable the system - if you say no, the TV will never send data of fingerprints on the screen.

[CamperBob2]

when you first setup the TV it asks you for permission to do enhanced content recognition. If you say yes, it will enable the system - if you say no, the TV will never send data of fingerprints on the screen.

But how do I reconcile this with the article, which says it was done without consumers' knowledge or consent?

Someone's lying, which I'm sure you'll agree is always kind of annoying.

[samstave]

This is my understanding and it's not the official opinion of anyone other than my own;

Iirc the statements were in the TOS to begin with, but it was not 100% obvious (meaning "CLICK HERE TO ACCEPT") yet I recall going through deployment heck to ensure that the TOS pop-ups were actually working... and we ensured this 100%.

The agreement was there, but it wasn't a button... We had to make a button, which was done.