Is your Smart TV watching and recording your viewing habits? Chances are it is unless you've taken steps to stop it.
Smart TV maker Vizio just settled a $17 million privacy lawsuit.
It happened after Vizio agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle charges by the Federal Trade Commission.
The charges involved Vizio "collecting viewing data on TV's without consumer's knowledge."
The FTC says Vizio then sold it along with information like household size, income and education level, to third parties that would target advertising to consumers.
Industry experts say other Smart TVs also have the ability to collect and share your viewing.
Alarming? You can do something about it.
Data Doctors Ken Colburn says make sure to read privacy statements and how the TVs will use your data.
During setup, read each screen carefully and turn off or opt out of data collection, viewing data or similar wording.
If your TV is already set up, each has its own process to disable.
Most of those processes start with going to "settings" then looking for "privacy" or "terms" and clicking off.
Click herefor Consumer Reports look at the issue and how to stop it on your TV.
