LG's Smart TV is allegedly sending unauthorized viewing details of its owners to its manufacturers.

In early November, Jason Huntley, a UK-based IT consultant, started investigating his LG Smart TV after noticing ads on the Smart landing screen. In his blog, Huntley recounted how he found a "rather creepy corporate video advertising their data collection practices to potential advertisers."

After probing into the TV's menu system, he found an option called "collection of watching info." This option was set on by default. He switched the option off only to find out that viewing data was still being sent regardless of the option's status.

Huntley's probing showed that his viewing data had been sent back unencrypted to LG. What was more disturbing was that even the videos watched, and information accessed from an external drive which he plugged into the Smart TV were also being sent. He confirmed this result by creating a mock avi file titled, "Midget Porn," which had shown up in unencrypted traffic sent back to LG.

These data being unencrypted were also vulnerable to hackers.

Huntley contacted LG Electronics regarding the matter. However, the company replied that since Huntley had accepted the terms and conditions on his TV, his concerns would be best directed to the retailer. This was not LG Electronic's answer, however, when BBC News contacted it.

"We are looking into the reports that certain viewing information on LG Smart TVs was shared without consent." This was the answer of LG's spokesperson according to a report made by BBC News. There was no clear indication whether this was an isolated case or because LG Electronics has different Smart TV models with different features.

Under UK's Data Protection Act of 1998:

"A person must not knowingly or recklessly, without the consent of the data controller:

a) obtain or disclose personal data or the information contained in personal data, or

b) procure the disclosure to another person of the information contained in personal data."

If Huntley's case will be proven, LG Electronics will have violated the UK Data Protection Act of 1998.