Roku is exploring ways to show consumers ads on its TVs even when they are not using its streaming platform: The company has been looking into injecting ads into the video feeds of third-party devices connected to its TVs, according to a recent patent filing.
This way, when an owner of a Roku TV takes a short break from playing a game on their Xbox, or streaming something on an Apple TV device connected to the TV set, Roku would use that break to show ads. Roku engineers have even explored ways to figure out what the consumer is doing with their TV-connected device in order to display relevant advertising.
Imagine being the guy working on this and how much you hate yourself anytime somebody asks you what you are working on.
I remember having an argument with my teacher in college about this. He asked us what we would do if we were asked to code something that could be used for things you personally don’t agree with such as the government using tools to “help” but also remove peoples privacy. Or corporations being able to show you more ads. I told him i would refuse. And he said that it would be my job though and sometimes you have to do things you don’t like. So i told him i would quit. And for some reason he could not really comprehend that and we got into an argument.
You were talking to a teacher who probably couldn’t afford to pay rent if he ever quit his job.
To be fair, most people I know don’t have the financial flexibility to quit their job if they’re asked by their boss to do something objectionable
Some people also have no qualms in doing the dirty job. They get paid and they don’t care.
I knew a guy who went to work for palantir. I asked "what if you end up working on like domestic spying or other sketchy stuff?’
He was like, shrug, iunno. Guy did not give a shit about anyone outside his immediate friend and family group.
And when it turns out the thing he made is used to hurt his friends?
I’m going to guess he values himself more than his friends, and he’d find justifications, but maybe he’d surprise me.
“Yeah, I know it’s shitty, but it pays the bills 🤷🏻♂️”
Even worse: Imagine being the guy working on this and being proud of yourself.
I think the former situation is worse for the person working on it.
We had to listen this C-level guy give a speech how good the last couple of years have been. We’ve increased the price of services by 50% and the amount of useless upsell shit we push to people has gone up as well. While our wages are still the same and people are getting laid off constantly. But I need food and shit.
Unfortunately, I bet these guys don’t care. I used to work at a company you might have products from and I would constantly hear “Hey, we’re a business” as an excuse to degrade the user experience. :(
all the more reason to not connect your smart TV to the internet and let it update.
Not only can they hold your TV hostage until you agree to their terms, but now they want to hijack your signal and inject their own ads to monetize all the content thats not theirs.
I just had a horrifying thought while wondering what these TV manufacturers will do with the TVs if you just never connect them to the Internet.
I know people are worried about them jumping on your neighbor’s WiFi without prompting, or even hacking your own connection, etc but I think that seems unlikely because of how deeply illegal it is…but my horrifying thought was that they could just create a new, free mesh network that only serves up ads.
You’d need a fucking faraday cage wrapped around your TV in order to not see ads.
Now if you’ll excuse me I’m gonna go throw up. 🤮
Look up Amazon Sidewalk. Your TV will soon get an internet connection whether you like it or not.
Thanks I hate it
You can tear the wifi antenna off the board, and it’ll never connect again (not just unplug it from the card, actually tear it off the pads), could also remove the shield from the Wifi module as well for good measure and it would never get a good signal ever again.
If you’re feeling really brave you could even try removing or cutting the traces connecting the Wireless module to the main system bus, has diminishing returns though since it would be very easy to short or destroy the PCI bus rendering the system completely inoperable.
I get that it’s probably technically possible to bypass, but it wouldn’t matter. In some cases, it’d actually be illegal to bypass and almost nobody would do it.
But hey, it’s not happened (yet) so this is purely speculation.
Bro Wtf If this happens I’m litterly buying a new tv
Am I the only one who gets the feeling that this is kinda dystopic? Like come on, this just gets crazy. It amazes me that some people think this is an ethically acceptable way to earn money.
Yeah now I’m never buying a roku I think when amazon eventually manages to wreck my cube (which they really seem to be trying to) I’ll have to try something like a raspberry pi or maybe a small ryzen card.
I’m really not sure but The one thing I’ve decided is to take it out of another company’s hands.
Looks like I’m about to go buy another used computer to setup my streaming services using Kody.
Are there major limitations of using a computer monitor as a TV if I plug another device into it (eg Apple TV) apart from the screen size?
I feel this would be a good way to go for small cheap TVs at least.
They’ll have a hell of a time with that. My roku TCL’s don’t even know the internet exists over here.
I’m done with Roku. I have one in every room, but they all need to go.
Yeah fuck that shit
Ow my balls
I’m so glad I made the switch to projectors. They have yet to be riddled with this horse shit. My current projector does 1080p, 60fps, makes an 85" screen in my room, can be used just fine during the day, works great with my Deck, and with the Kodak branded screen cost me less than 600 bucks.
I doubt that Roku is the only one exploring this option though. Heck Samsung displays ads everywhere in their UI, including the individual, source selection items.
At this point who would ever trust Roku products.
