As previously reported on AFN, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued TV manufacturers Sony, Samsung, LG, as well as Hisense and Technology Group Corporation (TCL), which are both based in China. The Attorney General said that Chinese ties pose serious concerns about consumer data harvesting, which are worsened by China's National Security Law, giving its government the capability to get consumer data.
Recently, Paxton got a victory against Samsung, halting the company's use of technology that allowed it to spy on Texans inside their own homes. The Temporary Restraining Order secured by Paxton prevents Samsung, and all other persons in active concert or participation with the company, from continuing to use, sell, transfer, collect, or share data relating to Texas consumers.
Chuck DeVore is the chief national initiatives officer at the Texas Public Policy Foundation.
"What happened was that a district court found that there was good cause to believe that, in this case, Samsung's actions violated or were likely to violate the Deceptive Trade Practices Act,” explains Devore. “So essentially, when you get a restraining order, it means the courts are saying, 'Yeah, you've got a good case here, and the company in question needs to stop what they're doing prior to any trial'."
Devore says that, if Samsung were to win the trial, the restraining order would no longer be in effect and that they can continue with their previous actions. For now, he said that Samsung may have to disable the feature or, possibly, be banned from selling TVs in Texas until the changes are made. He further talks about holding Samsung accountable.
"If they continue to do that in violation of a temporary restraining order, now you're talking about significant financial penalties and perhaps even criminal penalties. So, they have a pretty big incentive not to violate that temporary restraining order,” says Devore. “The courts don't look too kindly upon people when they do those sorts of things."
