Get Smart: Takeaways From FTC Settlement With Vizio Over TV Viewing Data

On February 6, 2017, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") in conjunction with the Office of the New Jersey Attorney General announced a settlement with Vizio Inc. ("Vizio"), including payment of $1.5 million to the FTC and $1 million to the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, with $300,000 of that amount suspended, over claims that Vizio's smart TVs collected information about consumers' video viewing behavior and shared that data with third parties without sufficient notice or consent. This settlement, along with pending class action litigation against Vizio involving similar allegations, reflects some of the privacy issues faced by developers in the Internet of Things space.