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My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

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Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#281

Post by bookofjoe »

robotmay wrote: post #220
exabrial wrote: post #111

On a similar note, Samsung updated a bunch of apps on my dad's s7 and pushed a bunch of notifications to him, trying to get him to join some Samsung rewards club and suspended use of his phone until he clicked next. He's 67 guys. The madness needs to stop.

I just got ahold of an S8 Edge and by god is it full of shite. I won't be buying any Samsung hardware, and I'll definitely recommend my friends/family don't; it might be the least user-friendly device I've ever used. The first 2 days you have to spend disabling so many things, or getting daft popups all over the place explaining things you don't care about.

"Crapware: Originally coined and reported by Marc Orchant on his ZDNet blog." https://lifehacker.com/5749098/the-computer-attacks-youve-ne...

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#282

Post by acjohnson55 »

buro9 wrote: post #76
pwg wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Solution: don't ever purchase a smart TV. Preferably, no one would ever purchase a smart TV. When smart TV sales go to zero, the makers would get the message. Sadly, too many folks don't know, or if they do know, they don't care.

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.

I bought a Vizio P65-C1, excited to have found a modern TV without smart features. Then, a couple months later, an OTA update made it smart. I had to read the fine print to realize that this came with some bullshit "feature" where Vizio auto recognizes whatever I'm watching. I disabled it deep within some totally nonintuitive menu.

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#283

Post by IshKebab »

fipple wrote: post #244
Sharlin wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GDPR will hopefully make companies that do things like this really sweat. The EU doesn’t seem to be fucking around with that one.

GDPR only increases engineering and compliance costs. It doesn’t have any consumer-side impact since to a first approximation, zero consumers take advantage of data privacy laws.

That's not true. GDPR means you have to have explicit, clear consent for many things. It can't be hidden behind "you agree to our updated terms and conditions, click (here) for details" type things.

Also it much be easy to opt out.

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#284

Post by jacquesm »

fipple wrote: post #244
Sharlin wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GDPR will hopefully make companies that do things like this really sweat. The EU doesn’t seem to be fucking around with that one.

GDPR only increases engineering and compliance costs. It doesn’t have any consumer-side impact since to a first approximation, zero consumers take advantage of data privacy laws.

> since to a first approximation, zero consumers take advantage of data privacy laws.

That's where that nice multiplier of 250,000 gets going. See, even if to a first approximation zero consumers take advantage of these laws if it turns out that 'approximately zero' out of 100 million is say 10,000 you're still fucked if you decide to play dumb.

So round off all you want, but keep in mind the multiplier.

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#285

Post by jacquesm »

notimetorelax wrote: post #251
fipple wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GDPR only increases engineering and compliance costs. It doesn’t have any consumer-side impact since to a first approximation, zero consumers take advantage of data privacy laws.

One significant advantage that comes with GDPR is the fact that users will be able to opt-out from any tracking that is not required for the service to function.

It's much better than that, it is explicit and specific (as in with purpose) opt in and the defaults are to be 'off' (see section 4.11).

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#286

Post by r3bl »

friedman23 wrote: post #170
buro9 wrote: post #55

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 just want to understand how people believed all these services worked previously for example, did you know that when you purchase an ebook using kindle software amazon knows exactly what page you've read to and how long you've stayed on each page. They also know exactly what books you have purchased. Or Did you know that whenever you use a smart tv app that every time you "hover" over a tv show an event is logged t…

I kind of get where you are going with it, but yes, I'm aware of how things work when buying a product.

I don't consider my Kindle Paperwhite as an always-on tracking-my-reading device, I consider it as an e-ink screen that I can transfer my books to via USB.

I still buy books from Amazon, but that's because I know how to de-DRM them, which is something I don't know how to do with books from... for example, Microsoft Store, or Google Play Books.

I don't own a smart TV because I don't need a TV at all, I need a screen to plug an HDMI cable into.

I don't own Alexa / Google Home because fuck that.

I've refused to own a smartphone until August 2016.

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#287

Post by Tyr42 »

remir wrote: post #143
nathanaldensr wrote: post #2

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.

On the other hand, if there was special code running in the Gmail app to detect if you're on a google phone and behave differently, would you also be annoyed?

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#288

Post by Spearchucker »

I have a smart TV and have simply never connected it to the Internet. I see no reason to. I watch movies and play games on Xbox, watch TV through my cable box. Terrestrial TV works just fine without an Internet connection. Is there anything else I should be doing? Am I missing something?

Re: My Sony "smart" TV has updated itself and tried to force me to use a new app

#289

Post by pwg »

buro9 wrote: post #76
pwg wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Solution: don't ever purchase a smart TV. Preferably, no one would ever purchase a smart TV. When smart TV sales go to zero, the makers would get the message. Sadly, too many folks don't know, or if they do know, they don't care.

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.

> I couldn't find a non-smart TV. They are everywhere. If you want the 4k, then you have a smart TV.

Or, hmmm... How about simply not buying that 4k if it is "smart".

The only feedback channel you have to the makers about your displeasure over the TV offerings is to simply not buy one.

They listen to nothing else. If the unit sells, they don't care about any other expressed dislikes (it sold, after-all). If the unit does not sell, and none of the units sell, only then do they listen.

But as I said at the outset, too few folks care enough to make a dent in their sales figures. So those of us who do care are left with simply not buying a new TV.

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