Soon, smart TVS may harvest private data

WASHINGTON: The world’s tech police have the opportunity to succeed in televisions where they initially failed with the rest of the connected world, and ensure that users retain a firm grasp on their data.

Smart televisions are nothing new. Nor is the shift in the platform wars, where tech firms duke it out for primacy of their operating systems, from smartphones to the TV set.

But the fact that Amazon is developing its own smart TV indicates that there’s enough value in the user data to offset the hardware’s otherwise feeble profitability - and that regulators should be quick to respond.

Germany’s federal cartel office leads the way. It started an inquiry into smart TVS in 2017, and the first findings will likely be presented this year. But while Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation might assuage some concerns, very few other nations are on top of the issue.

Consumers are mindlessly sacrificing personal information and regulators are doing little to prevent it.

The timing has become urgent. The electronics industry’s annual event in Las Vegas has heralded many a false dawn when it comes to new technology, but last week’s edition set the scene for an industry shift. New alliances are being forged in smart TVS. For regulators, the concerns focus on what are known as addressable ads.

If you take new TV sets, many include automatic content recognition technology, which can monitor the shows you watch to ascertain viewing habits.