Samsung promises to not take screenshots of Texans' TV screens without permission

Samsung and other TV manufacturers were sued by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton based on allegations that these manufacturers were “spying” on Texas residents through their smart TVs.

The conflict was over the Automated Content Recognition (ACR) technology that screenshots whatever's on the screen to serve better ads. Samsung had this feature enabled by default previously but it has now agreed to not use ACR unless users consent.

ACR captures screenshots when the TV is own about every 500 milliseconds. That information is then sent to the manufacturer's servers and those of its partners, even if the user hadn't agreed to it. A court in Texas had ordered Samsung to stop this temporarily while the case was underway.

The state's attorney general has now announced that an agreement has been signed with Samsung Electronics to ensure that no ACR data is collected without users being fully informed and consenting to it.

This agreement also requires Samsung to immediately stop any collection or processing of ACR data without first obtaining explicit consent from users in Texas.

Samsung is required to update its smart TVs to show disclosures and consent screens that clearly educate users about ACR so that they can make an informed decision about consenting to its use.

Samsung is one of the first major TV manufacturers to ink this agreement, which has won it praise from the attorney general. Others including Sony, TCL, and LG, were used as well but they've yet to come to a similar agreement.