Netflix socks detect when you've dozed off and pause your TV show • Hacker News Board

Re: Netflix socks detect when you've dozed off and pause your TV show

#131

Post by sroerick » Thu, Dec 17, 2015, 1:25 AM UTC

sossles wrote: post #116

radlad wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Android is implementing this in 6.0. No reason to make this a fanboy war. In any case, the app would probably say "Oh, I can't have camera? Well you can't have app." And it's not like you weren't warned on the page with "37 permissions".

On the AppStore, apps are required to gracefully degrade where permissions are not granted, and you can be rejected for not doing that. That seems unlikely to be enforced on the Play Store.

This is not the case with iOS snapchat. Disabling the camera prevents app use.

Re: Netflix socks detect when you've dozed off and pause your TV show

#132

Post by azinman2 » Thu, Dec 17, 2015, 1:33 AM UTC

awqrre wrote: post #115

radlad wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Android is implementing this in 6.0. No reason to make this a fanboy war. In any case, the app would probably say "Oh, I can't have camera? Well you can't have app." And it's not like you weren't warned on the page with "37 permissions".

Actually, part of the problem is that they don't have to ask for 37 permissions... they are grouped together in such large groups that you don't know what permissions they are really after. Cyanogenmod has Privacy Guard that I think can help with this privacy nightmare.

The bigger issue is that they provide no context.

"Facebook wants to send Sms" seems really odd until there's some feature like inviting someone that would obviously require sending Sms. Contextually asking for this permission then is much more reasonable, especially since the app can be used otherwise. Clearly certain permissions like camera may be the entire reason for the app, but the more sinister stuff like location tracking is often not the primary purpose.

Re: Netflix socks detect when you've dozed off and pause your TV show

#133

Post by culturestate » Thu, Dec 17, 2015, 1:35 AM UTC

verbify wrote: post #126

sossles wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the AppStore, apps are required to gracefully degrade where permissions are not granted, and you can be rejected for not doing that. That seems unlikely to be enforced on the Play Store.

Can anyone confirm if that is the case with uber? On Android, if location isn't enabled, you can't use uber. And before anyone claims location services are necessary to find the user and stop ddos attacks - I've ordered uber before for people in other parts of town, and I'm a signed in user with a track record of making payments.

Yes, you can set an arbitrary point as the pickup address on Uber for iOS without Location Services.

Re: Netflix socks detect when you've dozed off and pause your TV show

#134

Post by siculars » Thu, Dec 17, 2015, 1:37 AM UTC

radlad wrote: post #111

biot wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I don't use Android. On iOS, you install the app and at some point you see a prompt "This app would like access to your camera. Allow?" and you can click "Don't Allow" and keep using everything else. Versus Android, which at install time asks "This app wants access to these 37 different things. Allow everything and install, or would you prefer to kindly fuck off?"

Android is implementing this in 6.0. No reason to make this a fanboy war. In any case, the app would probably say "Oh, I can't have camera? Well you can't have app." And it's not like you weren't warned on the page with "37 permissions".

Fandoy war? This basic privacy/security feature has been in iOS since forever. It is as common sense as you can get. Not having it is actually outright hostile towards users. I've used both Android and iOS for some time and I can tell you without a shadow of doubt that iOS is far superior.

In the meantime... talk to me when Android gets this basic feature in 6.0.

Re: Netflix socks detect when you've dozed off and pause your TV show

#135

Post by taternuts » Thu, Dec 17, 2015, 1:37 AM UTC

bpicolo wrote: post #8

I'm mostly sad that Netflix detects nothing and pauses my show anyway after a couple episodes. : (

You know, I was actually the same way and instantly started searching for ways to disable it to no avail (aside from a simple setTimeout grease monkey script). After I've had it for awhile, I've come to actually enjoy it because a lot of times I've been on the verge of passing out while watching TV, wishing I could turn it off without moving and breaking out of my close-to-falling-asleep state.

Re: Netflix socks detect when you've dozed off and pause your TV show

#136

Post by azinman2 » Thu, Dec 17, 2015, 1:38 AM UTC

daenz wrote: post #106

nivla wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually Microsoft has a patent on something similar [1]. It uses Kinect to sense your mood before delivering an appropriate ad. [1] http://www.geekwire.com/2012/happy-sad-microsoft-system-targ...

A dystopian version: http://i.imgur.com/dgGvgKF.png

That's a very motivated Xbox player to do any of that.

Re: Netflix socks detect when you've dozed off and pause your TV show

#137

Post by azinman2 » Thu, Dec 17, 2015, 1:41 AM UTC

illegalsmile wrote: post #71

dysfunction wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People who live in climates where it gets cold in the winter, turn down their thermostats at night, and get up in the middle of the night to pee?

slippers man, or a quick trip to the bathroom.

Doesn't solve warmth.

Re: Netflix socks detect when you've dozed off and pause your TV show

#138

Post by JustSomeNobody » Thu, Dec 17, 2015, 1:42 AM UTC

slavik81 wrote: post #45

bpicolo wrote: post #8

I'm mostly sad that Netflix detects nothing and pauses my show anyway after a couple episodes. : (

That really only became possible when they decided to auto-play new episodes, which is a bad feature in general. There are quite a few shows with really nice music videos in their ending credits. Shrinking the video to the size of a postage stamp and kicking me into a new episode is a rather annoying. They also have a terrible habit of skipping the opening credits. The credits are often funny or beautiful. Every time…

You can turn it off.

Re: Netflix socks detect when you've dozed off and pause your TV show

#139

Post by taternuts » Thu, Dec 17, 2015, 1:44 AM UTC

inopinatus wrote: post #119

biot wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I don't use Android. On iOS, you install the app and at some point you see a prompt "This app would like access to your camera. Allow?" and you can click "Don't Allow" and keep using everything else. Versus Android, which at install time asks "This app wants access to these 37 different things. Allow everything and install, or would you prefer to kindly fuck off?"

Even such prompts are disingenuous. They amount to a salami attack against the user's privacy, because the overwhelming majority of users will authorize Yes on a per-app basis just to take a look, without really considering the potential consequences. See also: server admins who accept SSH host keys without verification.

The people who mindlessly click 'Yes' are generally the ones who don't care about the privacy implications of enabling such things though. I know I care, and I have uninstalled several apps after they've started asking for ridiculous permissions to enable non-essential features that I don't care about.

Re: Netflix socks detect when you've dozed off and pause your TV show

#140

Post by k1t » Thu, Dec 17, 2015, 1:45 AM UTC

ChuckMcM wrote: post #81

floatrock wrote: post #42

I RTFA, I know this an arduino-based DIY hobby project. But if something like this ever comes out for real, the ability to doze off and pause your TV show will be a trojan horse... You've seen those charts where people use their smart watch to record their heart rate during the game of thrones finale? (No? Here you go: http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/08/13/what-game-of-thrones-... ) Sure, downloading the Netflix pau…

Oh its a lot more sinister than that, and its already here. An app I tried to run on my Android phone would run a video ad before it started, it used the front facing camera to determine if someone was looking at the phone. I looked away and started typing on my laptop and the ad paused, I looked back and it restarted, I looked away and the ad paused. I looked back and deleted the App.

You don't say which phone, but this behavior sounds like Samsung Smart Pause[0]. It's possible that it was not related to the app/ad vendor.

[0] http://www.samsung.com/uk/support/skp/faq/1053479