KEN KIRSCHENBAUM, ESQ ALARM - SECURITY INDUSTRY LEGAL EMAIL NEWSLETTER / THE ALARM EXCHANGE You can read all of our articles on our website. Having trouble getting our emails? Change your spam controls and whitelist ken@kirschenbaumesq.com ****************************** Televisions and Monitors collecting data / tax webinar today December 19, 2024 ************************* Webinars Announcement **************************** Today's webinar at 12 PM noon ET on: Dec 19: on steps to take before year end to reduce taxes Register Here:https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5550299956529427544 ******************* Webinar: December 19, 2024 Title: Tax Breaks: Steps to take now, before end of year, to reduce your taxes When: December 19, 2024 12PM ET Who should attend: Owners, CFO; GM, accountant Topics to be covered: The end of the year is coming up and you may be wondering about tax reduction. Should you buy a work truck, pay bills, hold invoices, or take other action. Before you get advice from the car salesman down the street listen to what Mitch Reitman has to say. Some significant tax breaks are going away in 2025. If you don’t take advantage of them this year they may be gone forever. Presented by: Mitch Reitman, the Reitman Consulting Group, 817 698 9999; mreitman@reitman.us Hosted by: Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq. Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum Register Here:https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5550299956529427544 ********************************** Televisions and Monitors collecting data ***************************** Ken, This is interesting on at least 5 levels 1. Walmart is now manufacturing televisions 2. 100% of Visio's income comes from their ad income on their televisions 3. Walmart can now monitor what you watch and what you purchase online on the television and monitors. 4. The ability to do that means that they can give you more directly target ads. 5. Walmart can now restrict the ads you see on television and could in theory make sure you only see ads for Walmart products sold at Walmart's price rather than competitive prices at other retailers, or could get pricing intelligence based on my purchase or failure to purchase. With all of that said, I don't believe that I could in good conscience sell a Visio product to a customer for all of the same reasons I can't in good conscience sell a Samsung product to a customer. In case you don't realize / remember it, Samsung televisions offer the ability to talk to their monitors (that have speakers and microphones built in) and their televisions and send that data to the Samsung factory (or their designated business partners) for "processing". They have been caught in what I would consider ethically misusing information that they gathered from locations that had Samsung equipment installed. Imagine sending the data from a PD or other government owned facility to Samsung... The Samsung "thing" has been around since 2015 so it's old news but many dealers may have forgotten. The Visio being bought by Walmart is today's news. I had no idea that 100% of Visio's profits came from their connected services. Basically they are giving away the television / monitor in order to get your data. Sounds like installing a free alarm system to get the monitoring. :-) I'm wondering what the legal ramifications of this are if I have one of these televisions / monitors that I have installed in say a police department or a city council chambers or any number of other potentially sensitive locations. On Samsung I can simply turn voice features off then make sure everyone knows that they shouldn't enable it because they think it's "cool" or whatever. The Viso "thing" being new today we have no idea about how or if it can be disabled. And should someone at a later date enable the listening, am I now liable? Here are two articles on topic: https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/walmart-closes-vizio-acquisition-1236233418/?utm_source=join1440&utm_medium=email&utm_placement=newsletter
Sincerely, Dave Watkins *************************** Response *************************** From a liability perspective all you need to be sure about is disclosure, which should accompany the manufacturer’s literature. It should not be surprising that data is collected and sent to advertisers and marketers. Isn’t that what happens when you use your computer, use google, and watch TV; “they” seem to be keeping track, so not sure what is different with the TV monitor, as long as it’s not a camera system that actually works all the time or even when turns on. This brings to mind a monitoring company selling data on the coming and going of subscribers to marketing companies; obviously that is not OK. Collection of data has become ubiquitous with technology, so much so that it has attracted government to consider oversight. Alarm companies should not collect data that it shares with anyone [other than required by law or customer] and if it installs any equipment that collects data and sends it to the manufacturer [which is bad idea] that must be disclosed to the customer. STANDARD FORMS Alarm / Security / Fire and related Agreements click here: www.alarmcontracts.com *************************** CONCIERGE LAWYER SERVICE PROGRAM FOR THE ALARM INDUSTRY - You can check out the program and sign up here: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/concierge or contact our Program Coordinator Stacy Spector, Esq at 516 747 6700 x 304. *********************** ALARM ARTICLES: You can always read our Articles on our website at ww.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/alarm-articles updated daily ******************** THE ALARM EXCHANGE - the alarm industries leading classified and business exchange - updated daily ************************* Wondering how much your alarm company is worth? Click here: https://www.kirschenbaumesq.com/page/what-is-my-alarm-company-worth ****************************** Getting on our Email List / Email Articles archived: Many of you are forwarding these emails to friends or asking that others be added to the list. Sign up for our daily newsletter here: Sign Up. You can read articles and order alarm contracts on our web site www.alarmcontracts.com ************************** Ken Kirschenbaum,Esq Kirschenbaum & Kirschenbaum PC Attorneys at Law 200 Garden City Plaza Garden City, NY 11530 516 747 6700 x 301 ken@kirschenbaumesq.com www.KirschenbaumEsq.com
