Vizio to Deliver Class Action Notice Through TVs

AlphaAtlas

AlphaAtlas

[H]ard|Gawd
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Vizio came under fire for collecting too much user information though smart TVs way back in 2015. The company lost the resulting class action lawsuits in 2017, and made a $2.2 million dollar settlement with the FTC. But in an interesting twist, the involved parties asked for a delay in disclosing the details of the settlement. Apparently they want to send legal notices through Vizio TVs.

According to court papers, "The Parties are developing a class notice program with direct notification to the class through VIZIO Smart TV displays, which requires testing to make sure any TV notice can be properly displayed and functions as intended. The additional time requested will allow the parties to confirm that the notice program proposed in the motion for preliminary approval is workable and satisfies applicable legal standards."
 
Won't kids close a notice like that?

What if the 2015 owners no longer have the TV? I assume mail is better. I get those settlement postcards from 2013 issues when I lived at a different address but they figured out I moved.
 
Not going to work, too many ways they could not get the notice. Not networked, updates not installed, TV unplugged to save power, TV in a cabinet, TV in a rarely used room, watching football... :p
 
My Vizio is quite a few years old and I remember last year it popped up with a box detailing the data collection and explained how to find the new setting to opt out.

I'd prefer an explanation as to why the TV is so fucking sluggish turning on, changing channels, and the remote doesnt even send a signal for the first 10 seconds after powered on and displaying content. Very annoying when the volume was left high and I have to put up with it for 10 seconds. This TV was super responsive before all the firmware updates.
 
Crimson said:
Everyone knows it's only the lawyers or government in this case who makes money in class actions.
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I got quite a bit back from one of the DRAM class actions.

You can always opt out and sue Vizio yourself, but then you have to actually pay lawyers and go to court. This sort of thing is what class actions are for: widespread wrongdoing that doesn't affect any particular customer enough to trigger a lawsuit.
 
alxlwson said:
Woohoo! Gon' git my twenny cent!
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**NOTICE: To redeem please send a self addressed and stamped envelope to the below address in China. 18 cent administrative fee applies to any claim not postmarked within 72 hours of digital notice. Vizio Inc. reserves the right to display notices at the time and in the font of our choosing**
 
Crimson said:
Your not far off. Everyone knows it's only the lawyers or government in this case who makes money in class actions.
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The purpose of class actions is not to compensate victims.

It is to allow cases that otherwise wouldn't make sense to proceed.

Lawsuits cost a lot of money, and unless a case has the potential of resulting in rather large damages, it just doesn't make sense for a person to pay to bring suit.

In a class action you can bring these suits anyway. Lawyers don't get paid any more than they would in any other cases, but the legal fees can be a huge portion of the settlement, just because each individual person gets so little.

So, victims don't get any substatial financial compensation, but the benefit class actions DO have to society is that it serves as a disincentive for large corporations to abuse their customers, and that has real value.
 
What about people like me, who have smart TV's but don't trust them, and keep them disconnected from the Internet at all times? :p
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
What about people like me, who have smart TV's but don't trust them, and keep them disconnected from the Internet at all times? :p
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Then they have to hire a group of [H]ackers to track you down on the internet boards to pay you - once you have confirmed your identity and bank info with their payment clearing house based in Nigeria. :D
 
So they are going to collect the data on how many folks file claims based on seeing the blurb on the offending smart TV. Wonder if selling that data will net more then 2.2 million?
 
They should serve nothing but Chinese food on Death Row, and at the end of your meal, as you're cracking open your fortune cookie, you might get a slip that says, "Your appeals ran out. You just ate a half a cup of arsenic."
 
Zarathustra[H] said:
The purpose of class actions is not to compensate victims.

It is to allow cases that otherwise wouldn't make sense to proceed.

Lawsuits cost a lot of money, and unless a case has the potential of resulting in rather large damages, it just doesn't make sense for a person to pay to bring suit.

In a class action you can bring these suits anyway. Lawyers don't get paid any more than they would in any other cases, but the legal fees can be a huge portion of the settlement, just because each individual person gets so little.

So, victims don't get any substatial financial compensation, but the benefit class actions DO have to society is that it serves as a disincentive for large corporations to abuse their customers, and that has real value.
Click to expand...


I know that...my law professor was Saul "Jimmy" Goodman.
 
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