The TV maker Vizio will pay $2.2 million because it collected data from 11 million people without asking them. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the USA said Vizio gathered and sold data on customers for years. Vizio began making televisions in 2014 that tracked what people were watching. They used software updates to track people on TVs made before 2014. The FTC said: "Consumers didn’t know that…Vizio was watching them."
The FTC said Vizio captured viewing information and customers' IP addresses. This was a breach of privacy and security. The FTC said: "The data generated when you watch television can reveal a lot about you." Vizio sold data on people's age, sex, household size and income, marital status, home ownership, and education, but not their names. A Vizio lawyer said: "TV makers should get people's consent before collecting and sharing TV viewing information."