Sling TV turned privacy into a game you weren’t meant to win

Sling TV has settled with the California Attorney General over claims that it blocked users from exercising their privacy rights, agreeing to pay $530,000. According to a press release from the Attorney General’s office, Sling misled users attempting to opt out, directing them to a cookie settings page that did not stop data sharing.

To truly opt out, users had to fill out a separate online form with personal details they already supplied, and even logged-in customers were still asked for information such as name, address, email and phone number. The complaint also said that opt-out for connected devices was not available and that users had to type a complex URL in a separate browser.

The case highlights privacy concerns in streaming, including failures to age-screen or provide kids’ profiles that avoid targeted advertising, with Sling’s practices described as building detailed viewer profiles from data brokers. Sling TV, a division of DISH Network, has been losing subscribers—down to 1.78 million—while increasing revenue per viewer through targeted advertising.

Under the settlement, Sling must introduce direct opt-out mechanisms, stop sending opt-outs to cookie settings, and enable parental controls for kids’ profiles.