14 DAY TRIAL // Vizio has reached an agreement with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) to pay $2.2 million to have all charges dismissed from an action suit started for spying on their Smart TV customers.
Moreover, the American consumer electronics manufacturer has been under the watchful eye of the FTC for poking their nose into their customers' business since 2015, when ProPublica unveiled the fact that Vizio was selling viewing habits to select advertisers.
After the settlement reached in 2017, following two years of visits to the courthouse, Vizio also agreed to make sure that all their Smart TV customers will be notified of the class action suit via a software pop-up sent via the Internet until September 12 of this year.
Unfortunately for Vizio, their plans didn't come to fruition seeing that, according to a report from The Hollywood Reporter, the company has to address an array of both legal and technical issues before sending the class action suit notifications to their customers as promised.
Smart TVs to let their owners know if they're one of the customers who got spied on by Vizio
“The Parties are developing a class notice program with direct notification to the class through VIZIO Smart TV displays, which requires testing to make sure any TV notice can be properly displayed and functions as intended," tell the court papers.
According to the same report, the extra time Vizio wants to take is reserved for checking if the actual process of alerting all their Internet-enabled Smart TV buyers can receive the alerts as stipulated in the court order they received as part of the FTC settlement.
Supposedly, the notification system should be up and running sometime between September 12 and October 3, which means that all Vizio Smart TV should keep their ears and eyes open.
Their Smart TVs are Internet-powered snitches living in their lounge room, ready to let them know if they will receive a slice of the class action suit settlement pie.