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 The investigation comes after Jason Huntley, a 45-year-old IT
consultant in Britain, detailed in his blog how his LG smart TV
logged the channels he was watching and sent the data to LG.
He said the company continued to collect which channel he was
watching even after he disabled the information collection feature.
"The (LG) server acknowledges the successful receipt of this
information back to the TV," he said in an email. The information
appeared to be sent to LG unencrypted, he said.
Also collected were the names of files saved in an external USB hard
drive plugged into the TV as well as the TV's unique identification
information.
The world's second-largest TV maker said Thursday that customer
privacy is its top priority and takes the issue very seriously.
However, when Huntley asked LG about the data collection last week,
the company blamed a TV retailer for not disclosing the company's
terms and conditions when he made the purchase.
"As you accepted the Terms and Conditions on your TV, your concerns
would be best directed to the retailer," LG said in an email to
Huntley that outlined the response from the company's U.K. head
office.
LG introduced an ad platform to target its smart TV users in 2012.
The LG Smart AD lets advertisers reach target audiences by utilizing
device information, location and details such as age and gender, LG
says on its website.
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However it was not immediately clear which features in LG's smart
TVs were triggering the data monitoring.
"All we can be sure of is that the information is being sent,"
Huntley said.
He said was "very surprised" at the amount of attention he received
with the blog post.
"This indicates that privacy issues are becoming increasingly
important to people everywhere, as we are so dependent on technology
in our everyday lives."
Separately, Samsung Electronics Co. said it does not collect
information on files in USB hard drives connected to its smart TVs.
But it did not respond to a question about whether it logs users'
viewing habits. Samsung is the world's largest TV maker.
[Associated
Press; YOUKYUNG LEE, AP Technology Writer]
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