Campaigns Can Now See What You Watch on TV. It’s Changing Everything.
www.notus.org
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Smart TVs that track what people watch and how they watch it give political campaigns a new trove of data to exploit, with little transparency on how it’s happening.

Televisions that can stream platforms like Hulu or Max usually come loaded with technology that collects information on what viewers are watching, and buyers consent to have their viewing tracked when they open their new TV and click through terms of service agreements. Sometimes, data firms can connect those viewing habits to a voter’s phone or laptop via their IP address, promising a trove of information about an individual and the ability to track them across screens.

Other times, firms focus on dividing households into groups based on what they’re watching, how they use their TVs and how many campaign ads they’re seeing, which is a boon to political campaigns eager to target specific groups of voters. Connecting this data to voter files is increasingly a focus — a move that adds individual voting habits into the mix.

It’s becoming harder to find TVs that will operate without a network connection

I’ve never heard of this happening before. What does the TV do?

Won’t do anything until it is hooked back to the internet

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Even if you just passing your device to it?

Yeah, I’ve seen it on some Samsungs and LGs that get real pissy when the TV itself isn’t online. I’ve also heard of some brands (that I don’t remember atm) that won’t even let you go through the initial setup without a connection.

… I’ve also heard of some brands (that I don’t remember atm) that won’t even let you go through the initial setup without a connection.

/Microsoft announced new foray into TVs…

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