TVs connect and gain in intelligence, but is it really to our advantage?Smart TV users sold by Vizio, an absent manufacturer in France, have a serious reason to doubt it.By default, the device analyzes its own use and collects data for commercial purposes.It is a function activated with unpacking and customers who do not want to deactivate it in television settings.

This function is called "smart interactivity" by vizio and it is very like the advertising trackers that are found in an internet browser.Television is capable of recognizing the channels and even the programs watched by the user, whether live or delayed.This does not only concern traditional channels, since the program knows how to detect a series watched on Netflix, for example.

Vizio thus collects the tastes of all its users and establishes anonymous profiles, but associated with the home IP.It’s already embarrassing, but it’s not the worst: the manufacturer also sells this data to third parties, which exploits them to refine advertising.The idea is not to display an advertisement in the living room, but rather to make the link between your TV and your computer or smartphone connected by the same IP address.

An American law prohibits television channels and cable operators which provide the video flow to sell information concerning the reading habits of their customers.But this law did not plan that the television itself could do the same, and for the moment, what Vizio does is completely legal, if not very moral.Pending a possible legislative change, the manufacturer does not hide it and clearly announces in its financial results which it counts on the resale of this data to improve its profits.

Vizio is not the first television manufacturer to follow this track, but it is probably the first that activates these advertising follow -up functions on all its models, without waiting for the authorization of its users.If you use a brand model, the instructions for cutting the function are available at this address.