[HN Gopher] Texas court blocks Samsung from tracking TV viewing,...
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       Texas court blocks Samsung from tracking TV viewing, then vacates
       order
        
       Author : speckx
       Score  : 43 points
       Date   : 2026-01-08 20:50 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.bleepingcomputer.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.bleepingcomputer.com)
        
       | JadeNB wrote:
       | You might want to find out why the order was immediately vacated,
       | but you, or at least I, will not do so by reading the article:
       | 
       | > One day after granting the TRO, the same judge ruled that it
       | should not remain in effect and vacated the order.
       | 
       | > "The Court finds, sua sponte, that the [TRO obtained by the
       | State of Texas against Samsung] should be set aside," the judge
       | wrote in the order.
       | 
       | "ruled that it should not remain in effect" links to
       | https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26462588-20260106-or...,
       | but my desire to understand what's going on does not yet extend
       | to reading the order.
        
         | tadfisher wrote:
         | "sua sponte" means "of the court's own volition", there is no
         | reason given in the order to vacate.
        
           | ronsor wrote:
           | The obvious reason is that Samsung's check finally cleared.
        
             | mindslight wrote:
             | It's the routine fascist shakedown playbook at this point:
             | 
             | 1. Make some big noise and token action about an issue that
             | has been festering for decades, while their own party has
             | been the primary opposition to any kind of substantive
             | lasting reform (eg US GDPR)
             | 
             | 2. Rally the useful idiots to rally around the cause of
             | widely-desired reform, backfitting all the ideals behind
             | the issue as if fascists have any appreciation for lofty
             | ideals
             | 
             | 3. Let the target company marinate and roast under the
             | pressure until they capitulate and send a bribe and/or
             | other tribute
             | 
             | 4. Drop the token action after the attention spans of their
             | useful idiots have expired and they've moved on to the next
             | spectacle
             | 
             | 5. If the issue comes to a head again, the useful idiots
             | blame the "libuhruls" rather than having an ounce of self-
             | awareness to realize their own leaders sandbagged and sold
             | them out
        
             | BLKNSLVR wrote:
             | My suspicion is that Ken Paxton thought Samsung was
             | Chinese, and soon after the court action was submitted
             | found out they were actually South Korean (or at least 'not
             | Chinese').
        
           | SoftTalker wrote:
           | In such cases, is it normal for there to be no reason or
           | elaboration on why the order was vacated?
        
             | treetalker wrote:
             | Fairly typical in state courts, where trial-level judges
             | are generally left to do what they please and often give
             | little if any rationale. In federal courts, judges
             | generally explain themselves (sometimes they are required
             | to) en route to doing what they please.
        
         | observationist wrote:
         | It's likely that they set some conditions and said "if you meet
         | these conditions, we'll vacate the order" - probably some sort
         | of compliance with Texas regulations governing what can and
         | can't and should and shouldn't be tracked, and Samsung
         | technically complied?
         | 
         | Hard to find the details.
        
       | Cornbilly wrote:
       | This looks like it was just political theater.
       | 
       | Par for the course for Ken Paxton, one of the most blatantly
       | corrupt politicians in the US.
        
         | platevoltage wrote:
         | It truly is unbelievable how out in the open corrupt he is, and
         | last time I checked, the front runner for the US Senate in
         | Texas.
        
       | zaptheimpaler wrote:
       | Seems like that temporary order was set to expire Jan 19th
       | anyways, and there is a hearing for Samsung scheduled tomorrow.
       | So there's still some hope..
        
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       (page generated 2026-01-08 23:01 UTC)