Updated comment from Skyworth USA

The top Chinese TV maker with a presence in the North American market has admitted that its TVs have been spying on users, at least Chinese users

Skyworth, which made a big splash at CES 2020 in Las Vegas and sells at least six TV models in the US, said in a statement posted online last week that its Android TVs, called Gozen Service A third-party application called Gozen Service on its Android TVs was collecting more data than expected, it said

According to an unnamed Skyworth TV owner who posted on a Chinese software development forum, the Gozen Service app was developed by a company called Gozen Data The app collects data about all Internet-connected gadgets on the home wireless network and the names of nearby Wi-Fi networks and sends it to a web server operated by Gozen

"In other words," according to Google Translate, "the Gozen service app collects information about "what smart devices are in the house, whether there is a cell phone in the house, who is connected to the Internet at home, what is the name of the neighbor's Wi-Fi" and you (the Gozen service) can collect and upload it at any time

All of this information could, in theory, be used to locate TVs and track the movements of residents' mobile devices, both physically and online

"It scans the family's connected devices every 10 minutes and sends back host names, MACs, IPs, and even network latency times," the posting user added "It also detects surrounding Wi-Fi SSID names; MAC addresses are also packaged and sent to the gz-datacom domain name"

How, the submitter asked, is this "not a spy service?"

The South China Morning Post, which reported this story earlier, tried to contact the original forum poster, but received no reply Skyworth said the company's TVs sold in Hong Kong, where the South China Morning Post is based, do not come with the Gozen Data app preinstalled

It is unclear whether Skyworth televisions sold outside of China have the Gozen Data app installed or other types of third-party data collection apps Tom's Guide has contacted Skyworth USA for for comment (Please see below)

Skyworth said in a statement that it has "terminated its partnership" with Gozen Data, which was "limited to researching domestic TV program ratings in mainland China on a sampling basis No violations beyond this scope were approved or sanctioned by SkyWorth TV"

The company also stated that it was "not aware that Gozen Data was involved in any other violations beyond the scope of this agreement

However, public Chinese financial records exposed by Pandailycom show that Skyworth is a major investor in Gozen Data, although Pandailycom states that Gozen Data is also affiliated with Philips, Sanyo, TCL, and Toshiba, we were unable to find any reference to these companies in the public records linked by Pandailycom

According to the South China Morning Post, Skyworth is China's third-largest TV maker after Xiaomi and HiSense, and the world's fifth-largest TV maker

The US version of Amazon offers two Android-powered Skyworth TVs and a less expensive Skyworth TV that does not appear to have "smart" features; Skyworth USA's website has at least three more Android TVs listed on the website

Southeast Asia-based hacker Sick Codes, who showed us what appeared to be spying on a TCL TV last fall, put us in touch with Gsmaster, a North African phone hacker who owns several Skyworth TVs

Sick Codes and Gsmaster scanned the Skyworth TV's Internet connection and showed us Nmap screenshots; it is unclear whether Gsmaster's Skyworth TV was running the Gozen Data app

Nevertheless, this type of data collection is contrary to new user privacy regulations being rolled out in China in stages this year

According to the South China Morning Post, the regulation mandates that users can refuse data collection that is not necessary for the app or device to function Pandaily reports that the regulation also requires manufacturers and service providers to notify users about any kind of personal data collection

Pandaily speculates that even if Skyworth throws out Gozen Data, TV manufacturers may still need to notify users and authorities of the scope and extent of personal data transmitted to third parties

"Going forward," according to an official Skyworth statement, ""we will conduct a more rigorous review of the actions of our partners and service providers to protect users' privacy, data, rights, and interests"

A SkyworthUSA representative responded to our inquiry and issued this statement:

"Skyworth North America's business is aware that its parent company has taken decisive steps to ensure that customer privacy is a top priority, and that Skyworth TV in the North American market is pleased to report that it is not subject to, nor does it feature, the data app in question

The representative then referred us to Skyworth's official statement at the link cited at the beginning of this report