I hope EU will push more laws, when you buy hardware like a smatphone,TV,PC all the extra crap on top should be opt-in not opt-out, I bought an ASUS cheap smartphone(new, unlocked no carrier contracts) and it has extra apps on top of the basic Android that I can only disable and not remove. At startup there should be a prompt with suggested apps that they want the user to install, if the user selects an app to instal…
you might like eelo.io and there are others in the works that are open-source and privacy-focused, but eelo looks promising :)
Windows 10 has so far served me ads on the lock screen and in the start menu. If I try to search my computer for a file, it also sends that search query to Bing. This OS should be free.
All those things can be easily turned off, but yes, that's not right.
And just as easily, Microsoft will turn them back on for you.
The meme of "if you're not paying, you are the product" is, of course, true, but it doesn't acknowledge the host of cases when you are the product even if you're paying . This guy basically paid to be spied on.
First day I used my Pixel 2 XL I saw ads in the Gmail app. I mean, this is not some $100 phone. I paid 1k for it and Google still showed me ads in Gmail.
Try it. I did. I couldn't find a non-smart TV. They are everywhere. If you want the 4k, then you have a smart TV. The best alternatives were super large monitors (way over the price of a TV, and with no decent sound built in), or corporate display panels (for advertising, signage, etc) whose prices are also way above a TV and include no sound system at all.
Is it dangerous to open a modern TV? Might be worth finding the network chips and disconnecting or breaking them off.
Which is why this meme is a half-truth. Other examples include old-world companies like magazines and banks selling our data despite us paying for the service. Even in areas other than privacy, my bank mistreats me far worse than Internet companies like Google and Twitter. Not to mention that in a multi-sided ecosystem, Internet companies need to keep both users and advertisers happy, so even if you're not paying, yo…
My bank (US Bank) had a Facebook script behind the login wall and was firing requests to Facebook while I was doing private banking.
You should write it up in a blog post or something. Given the climate around Facebook right now, it’s not inconceivable that it could get enough attention that your bank stops doing this.
I haven't used many smart tvs but I find the software to feel lower quality than a dedicated game console or box.
Kinda feel like they are building in smart TV features just to say "me to". Plus some of the blu-ray players that came with Netflix and stuff aren't being updated anymore and then when the APIs are deprecated at some point. So then you have these boxes lose their originally functionality other than just playing disks.
Seems like displays last longer than the software.
I plug my "smart" TV into ethernet now and then to get firmware updates, then unplug it the rest of the time.
2008: plug the TV into the power outlet and you're done 2018: your TV needs internet access because updates What the hell happened? This is ridiculous.
My 2008 TV did get firmware updates over cable TV.
I'm the author and linking to my tweets is a bad idea because they auto-delete after 14 days. For future HN context, as the author I'm reproducing them here in full: My @Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app from https://samba.tv and boy oh boy... this is worse than recent @facebook stuff. From their own privacy policy: https://samba.tv/legal/privacy-policy/ … they track what you w…
HN replying to myself with some context outside of the tweets. I actually trust stock Android over Samsung, Sony, etc Android. Hence my "if we're going to have Android TV perhaps Google could supply it without the forced add-ons". I see this similar to installing Windows yourself rather than having "Windows with added vendor crap"... like if you know you want Windows, a stock one is better and same with Android. I'm…
I've had the Nvidia Shield for a couple years now, and highly recommend it. It's a bit expensive if you're not using it for gaming or Plex server (I'm not) but I find it worth it because it's reliable, still gets updated, and generally "just works". It's literally the only content used for my TV now: Netflix, Plex, YouTube, weather, Tinycam (baby monitor), Google Music, and I can also cast from a phone/computer/etc without changing inputs.
I plug my "smart" TV into ethernet now and then to get firmware updates, then unplug it the rest of the time.
2008: plug the TV into the power outlet and you're done 2018: your TV needs internet access because updates What the hell happened? This is ridiculous.
More like :
2008: profits from TV sales are declining rapidly. Manufacturers are panicking.
2018: TV manufacturers partnered with some shady organization that pays them big bucks to install spyware into their Smart TVs.
I'm the author and linking to my tweets is a bad idea because they auto-delete after 14 days. For future HN context, as the author I'm reproducing them here in full: My @Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app from https://samba.tv and boy oh boy... this is worse than recent @facebook stuff. From their own privacy policy: https://samba.tv/legal/privacy-policy/ … they track what you w…
I wound up having to change my wifi password. Without thinking about it I configured my current TV to join my wifi network. After it so kindly started putting ads on the screen while watching things I turned it off. A few months later, ads again. Somewhere in the bowels of the settings the wifi was reenabled, so I shut it off. A few months later, more ads. In a new place in the settings it was back on. Repeat a few m…
Wow. No way to opt-out of the ads?
Do they have a in-hardware or in-app purchase to remove the ads? <- That would be a horrible trend to start.