14 DAY TRIAL // In the past week, Chinese smart TV users were surprised to find out that their TVs are gathering and sending out all sorts of information through Gozen Data, a leading Chinese TV analytics company located in Beijing.
This event was first revealed on a forum for tech enthusiasts called V2EX. A post made by a user stated that his Skyworth Smart TV had become slow and started to look into the source code of applications to find out why this was happening. He discovered a piece of software that checks the user's Wi-Fi home network every ten minutes and uploads its findings to Gozen Data's database. Those data strings included information like what smart devices were used in that specific home, whether the owner's phone was there, and who used the Wireless Network.
After these practices were exposed on the aforementioned discussion forum, news about what had been going on reached Weibo, causing widespread outrage.
There are a lot of debates about improper data collection activities in China
Discussions about illegal data collection are frequent in China, but they tend to often revolve around smartphone applications. This seems to be the first important case of data security issues involving smart TVs.
According to an industry survey, China had 270 million Smart TVs in operation already back in 2019. Gozen Data claims that it has been collaborating with Smart TV manufacturers who embed their proprietary data collection software since 2014.
Gozen Data removed television partners from their website
Skyworth, the Chinese Smart TV manufacturer which was found to steal personal data, announced that all Gozen Data services have been disabled. The partnership between these two companies was cancelled on April 27 after 7 years.
This kind of unwanted events may happen again in China, as their technological progress tends to create more smart devices but big brands could continue to ignore privacy concerns.