Roku explores taking over HDMI feeds with ads

Submitted ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Stopthatgirl7@lemmy.world⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.lowpass.cc/p/roku-hdmi-ad-insertion-patent

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.

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mp3@lemmy.ca ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Any company trying to use the HDMI-CEC protocol in such a subversive manner should lose their license to the HDMI standard IMO.

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- I_like_cats@lemmy.one ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  The HDMI forum is run by big companies so that is not happening, sorry
  
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- wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  The bastards that control the hdmi standard: yeah!
  
  Roku: 💰
  
  Bastards: actually no
  
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  - Kolanaki@yiffit.net ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Me: 💰💰
    
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- Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  It’s not like they ever properly implemented it in the first place.
  
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  - SmoothLiquidation@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I’m mad that they did their broken implementation of sending control codes between devices that never works. I have to disable it on everything so that the correct input gets set.
    
    And then they are killing the universal remote industry so there is nothing to replace it with.
    
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- Jimmycakes@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  You know HDMI is not some big secret they can use it without the license and ship from overseas like 90% of shit shipped from China.
  
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  - mp3@lemmy.ca ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    For cheap gizmos I can see a chinese seller getting away with it, but not a large business like Roku.
    
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  - frezik@midwest.social ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    That only works if you’re headquartered in China.
    
    Not that the HDMI Fourm will stop them, anyway More likely, the companies involved will want to license Roku’s patent.
    
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RunningInRVA@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Imagine being the guy working on this and how much you hate yourself anytime somebody asks you what you are working on.

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- frostysauce@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Even worse: Imagine being the guy working on this and being proud of yourself.
  
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  - GustavoFring@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I think the former situation is worse for the person working on it.
    
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- jg1i@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  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. :(
  
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- RageAgainstTheRich@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  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.
  
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  - archomrade@midwest.social ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    You were talking to a teacher who probably couldn’t afford to pay rent if he ever quit his job.
    
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  - acr515@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    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
    
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- TragicNotCute@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  “Yeah, I know it’s shitty, but it pays the bills 🤷🏻‍♂️”
  
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- datelmd5sum@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  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.
  
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- Croquette@sh.itjust.works ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Some people also have no qualms in doing the dirty job. They get paid and they don’t care.
  
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  - jjjalljs@ttrpg.network ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    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.
    
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- Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I recall watching a defcon speech given by someone who used to make malware. He opened the speech by apologizing and saying that he knows that he will burn in hell.
  
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baronvonj@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
The shittiest of enshitifications.

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- TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  We need an anti-awards show for shit like this.
  
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  - PumpkinEscobar@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I like that. If there was a site that did like The Razzies for movies but for technology enshitification, I would definitely watch, and probably follow a blog if it was done well
    
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- Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Roku has always been a shitty company that wants to monetize everything. People are finally waking up. How many of us have a Roku remote that advertises a useless or bankrupt streaming service?
  
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  - jaybone@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I know I’m old, but I miss having numbers on my remote.
    
    Now I have a “sling” and a “crackle” button. 🙁
    
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Ultragigagigantic@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
“People are taking the piss out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated technology the world has ever seen and they bully you with it. They are The Advertisers and they are laughing at you.

You, however, are forbidden to touch them. Trademarks, intellectual property rights and copyright law mean advertisers can say what they like wherever they like with total impunity.

Fuck that. Any advert in a public space that gives you no choice whether you see it or not is yours. It’s yours to take, re-arrange and re-use. You can do whatever you like with it. Asking for permission is like asking to keep a rock someone just threw at your head.

You owe the companies nothing. Less than nothing, you especially don’t owe them any courtesy. They owe you. They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never asked for your permission, don’t even start asking for theirs.”

– Banksy

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- ArmokGoB@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Didn’t Banksy sell out to corpos?
  
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  - blind3rdeye@lemm.ee ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Not that I’m aware of. But secondly… it doesn’t matter if this quote is from a pure soul or a broken one - the we can gain value from its message either way.
    
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qwertyqwertyqwerty@lemmy.one ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Is there an anti-ad community on Lemmy? Or another non-Lemmy place to work through blocking/avoiding this bullshit? I’m so fed up with the advertisement industry. I don’t want ads on my devices. I don’t want ads in my operating systems. I don’t want ads in my content. I don’t want ads in the sky. I don’t want ads in the ocean. I don’t want to be forced to see or hear ads while putting gas in my car.

I really can’t emphasis how much I am willing through to rid my life completely of advertisements.

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- yuriy@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  If the gas pumps have those unlabeled buttons around a screen, try pressing all of em. The pumps around here (nebraska) will mute the audio when you press one of the buttons, it just isn’t labeled. I’ve taken to writing “mute” on the magic-button with a sharpie whenever I pump my gas.
  
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  - HerrVorragend@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Wait, the thing about ads while fueling your car is real?
    
    WTF?!
    
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  - ralakus@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    One of my local gas stations had that to where it was so loud you can here them in the car. A few weeks after they installed them, someone came by with a hand drill and drilled out all of the speakers. Not sure what happened to that hero but we need more people like them.
    
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  - qwertyqwertyqwerty@lemmy.one ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I’ve tried pressing every button at every pump I’ve used in my area and this trick doesn’t work. I want to epoxy the speakers and screen and glitter-bomb the entire thing.
    
    I won’t. But I want to.
    
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  - f4f4f4f4f4f4f4f4@sopuli.xyz ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Right side, second button down?
    
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  - Kalysta@lemm.ee ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    You’re doin god’s work, sir
    
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  - Mango@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    ♥️
    
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  - freebee@sh.itjust.works ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Maybe try jamming something in too so it stays forever pressed and muted
    
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- Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I don’t know if they’re on the fediverse yet but Adbusters has been doing great work in this space for a long time.
  
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  - ZeroCool@slrpnk.net ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Dammmn that takes me back! I had a subscription to their magazine in high school in the early 2000s. HOLY CRAP they’re still selling the Corporate America flag too!
    
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- harsh3466@lemmy.ml ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  It’s not specifically anti-ad, but the lemmy privacy community regularly discusses ad-blocking as it very much overlaps with privacy.
  
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- Fapper_McFapper@lemm.ee ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  But would you like them on a train? Would you like them on a plane?
  
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  - qwertyqwertyqwerty@lemmy.one ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Ugh. Both of these exist already:
    
    www.adquick.com/media/transit/train
    
    simpleflying.com/inflight-advertising/
    
    Sigh. They also have them in the rain:
    
    streetadvertisingservices.com/…/rain-advertising
    
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  - btaf45@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I do not like green eggs and spam.
    
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- Entropywins@kbin.social ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Look into adgaurd or set up pihole software for dns and have a network device dedicated to blocking ads
  
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  - Confused_Emus@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Roku uses hardcoded Google DNS, so you’ll need to make some additional changes on your router to direct their 8.8.x.x addresses to your DNS service. Instructions at the below site are for Unlocator, but I think should work with any custom DNS.
    
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  - qwertyqwertyqwerty@lemmy.one ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I already have Pi-hole with a bunch of additional lists to be blocked. I also cancelled all streaming services that service ads, and I use Adblock. I still see ads occasionally. What do you suggest for dedicated ad-blocking hardware?
    
    Also, I don’t know what to do about the environmental ads.
    
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- Mango@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I can’t understand why anyone’s money entitles them to put their mental parasites into my attention space. They aren’t paying me, and I wouldn’t take their money no matter how much they were offering. For fuck’s sake, I don’t even want to experience the offer of money for ad attention.
  
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  - refurbishedrefurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    They Live
    
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- Aolley@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Rate those places online to warn others. fucking hailCorporate nonsense
  
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  - qwertyqwertyqwerty@lemmy.one ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    That only works while this is still a niche use case. Just wait until they find out how many more places they can shove ads while we are forced to stand/sit somewhere for 20 minutes!
    
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  - frostysauce@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Perfect. Then people can avoid ads at that gas station by going to another gas station with ads!
    
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- I_Miss_Daniel@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I’m still running an older version of NextPVR with three usb tuners and Comskip.exe - it gets most of the ads out of free to air automatically.
  
  Ublock origin and / or expressvpn seem to block some ads on the catch up services, but not all.
  
  YouTube with Ublock origin and Sponsorblock work well.
  
  Newpipe Sponsorblock fork is good as well.
  
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smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Man… My personal list of banned companies not to buy is getting scary long.

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- melpomenesclevage@lemm.ee ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  At this point just start using a white list.
  
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- aniki@lemm.ee ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  I have a whitelist, not a blacklist.
  
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- Ginger666@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  You wanna DM me that list? And some decent alternatives would be nice too :)
  
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  - smileyhead@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    That’s a hypothetical list in my head :P
    
    As for alternarives, I use so many “alternative”/FOSS things daily that compiling one list would just be a waste of time at this point.
    
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- antipiratgruppen@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Would you mind sharing the list? Or is it just inside your head?
  
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Moose@moose.best ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

If a consumer watches something on their Apple TV and then presses the pause button, a Roku TV set could use either audio or video-based content recognition technologies (known in the industry as ACR) to identify what’s being watched, match the current scene to a database and extract relevant information to pair an ad with it.

Wow somehow their idea is even worse than I imagined, glad I don’t own a Roku now.

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- Mango@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Yeah way to fuck 80% of the purpose of pausing.
  
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  - piskertariot@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    Do not look away from screen while ad is playing, or playback will be paused for 5 minutes for first offense.
    
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- danc4498@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Yeah, I thought it was no different than what already happens on my fire cube. The screensaver with ads mixed in.
  
  This is a much bigger invasion of privacy
  
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Got_Bent@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
How the fuck can an economy that’s almost nothing not advertisements sustain itself for any period of time? It feels like forcing more and more ads is the only thing anybody does for money anymore.

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- aesthelete@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Brought to you by Karl’s Jr.
  
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  - SpeedLimit55@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    It’s got electrolytes!
    
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- untorquer@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  They’re not even going to profit so much off the ads as they will having a new way to distribute them. Even then its, “line go up this quarter”, not “what if sales go down due to this?”. They’ll license it out to every offer company who needs it for line go up.
  
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- billiam0202@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
  Wait until someone invents a bot/AI script that watches ads for you. Then the whole “ads everywhere” will either implode or it’ll trigger a war between AI ad makers and AI ad watchers
  
  Either way, it’ll be entertaining.
  
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  - archomrade@midwest.social ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    I don’t think AI does what you think it does
    
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  - Draconic_NEO@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
    They already have that it’s called click fraud or automated ad clicking, mostly though it’s websites that earned money from advertisers who engage in this, as a sleazy way of making more money.
    
    Though if you want to partake in it there are ad blocking extensions that also do it. It’s not perfect but it is quite damaging to the advertising industry.
    
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AgentGrimstone@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Don’t buy Roku TVs. Got it.

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andyburke@fedia.io ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Used to recommend Roku to others. I will never buy anything from them or recommend them to anyone again.

Someday maybe boards will figure out that "business" people have no idea what they are doing.

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Blackmist@feddit.uk ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Late Stage Capitalism: Using a microscopic laser, we are able to burn our advertiser logos directly into our customer’s retinas, so they will see them even as they sleep.

Shareholders: 👏 👏 👏

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freebee@sh.itjust.works ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Imagine a world where talented engineers would put their minds to work for solving big problems instead of … I’m not sure wtf this is.

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InvaderDJ@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
If Roku actually does this I would definitely never use them again. Completely asinine behavior. Especially because most people aren’t even using stand alone boxes with their smart TVs.

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flop_leash_973@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
It seems like so long that Roku was not a horrible company. Simple little box for a good price with a small static ad on the home screen to make money.

Seems like a lifetime ago.

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FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Guess I'll never buy a Roku TV then: Get all the way fucked!

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Clbull@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Is this why they made people waive their right to sue them?

Yeah… Fuck Roku.

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Hootz@lemmy.ca ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I wish a pox on these capitalist pigs.

Every day I get a step closer to dropping all this trash, going back to piracy.

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EmperorHenry@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
yarr harr fiddle dee dee, do what you want 'cause a pirate is free!

Sorry, I love that song. What are we talking about?

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skozzii@lemmy.ca ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
“Wow, this Roku TV is so cheap!”

Your selling your privacy and basically leasing the box.

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Kalysta@lemm.ee ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
This is gross. I cut my cable because of ads. Have about 3 types of adblockers on my computer to stop them. This hyper marketing is why so many have turned away from traditional entertainment to begin with.

I am more than the ability to spend money and it’s goddamn time everyone say this and boycott companies that do shady garbage like this

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yamanii@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Image

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mortrek@lemmy.ml ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Never connect your smart TV to the internet. Just don’t do it. Get a third party device or ideally use an old PC with an appropriate HTPC Linux distro or something.

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Seraph@kbin.social ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Just because they patented it doesn't mean it will happen. Sony patented this evil idea.

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Draegur@lemm.ee ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
so glad i never bought into roku

and i never fucking will

good riddance.

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KinglyWeevil@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
This is how you get people to start rooting their TVs

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Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Great, so Smart TVs won’t even function as basic displays anymore.

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FritzGman@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Oh please don’t misunderstand my post. I’m in total agreement that this bullshit can’t go unchallenged and that posting about it is necessary and good. It’s just that, like public comment town halls, all the complaining in the world does not affect change.

Instead, I meant to imply that more needs to be done and in a way that people who have already paid can use to fight against them.

Like encouraging all Roku TV owners (and eventually all Smart TV owners) to contact their local, state and federal representatives to demand they enact consumer protection laws against post purchase forced software changes to functionality of the product (aside from security patches) or forced acceptance of ‘terms of service’ that essentially take away your right to your preferred method of recourse.

I mean, the idea that we buy something for the features and capabilities it gives us just to have it changed at the whim of a corporate moneymaking scheme is insane. Even moreso when policy changes mean you accept something you don’t want to or lose what you paid for (i.e. Roku’s forced arbitration acceptance that would otherwise brick the TV).

It’s fine to vent frustrations but in the long run, jailbreaking and looking to buy something different doesn’t resolve the root problem. Greed overcoming consumer protection in the name of shareholder interest (most of which are corporate C level douches).

Sorry if I wasn’t clear with my opinion but my posts usually are already too long before they even start. lol

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normalexit@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I’m done with Roku. I have one in every room, but they all need to go.

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jabjoe@feddit.uk ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Enshitification gold rush continues. It’s like now there is a word for, all these companies are exploring how they can do it.

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CaptainSpaceman@lemmy.world ⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
Roku, somehow becoming shittier than Twitter

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