21st Class-action Complaint Filed Against Vizio Viewer-Tracking Feature

A week after the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation heard oral argument on motions to transfer 16 of the 20 class-action complaints against the Inscape viewer-tracking feature on Vizio smart TVs to the U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, California, and "centralize" them there into one case (see 1602260059), the 21st such complaint was filed against Vizio by a Brooklyn man, Isaac Altman, who, like the earlier plaintiffs, alleged his rights were violated under the federal Video Privacy Protection Act. Since buying his Vizio E500 smart TV in September, Altman has connected the set “to personal wireless networks and has used his television to watch shows and movies, including via connected applications,” said his complaint, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the first of the 21 actions to be filed in New York. At no time did Altman consent to having his TV viewing activity “-- or any additional activity related to the use of WiFi in his home -- tracked by Vizio,” the complaint said. Had Altman known Vizio “employed such tracking functionality, he would not have purchased his Smart TV,” it says. Vizio representatives didn’t comment.