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Defrauding ad networks doesn't seem like a bad thing, although using my internet connection as a proxy is obviously terrible. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that my connection is being sold as a VPN service by the vendor.
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I wouldn't use a device like this for a lot of reasons, but the fact that what they are doing might be taking advantage of the incredibly predatory digital advertising system is neutral to positive for me, if I'm being fully honest. If they were using the system to rip off random people, I'd be 100% against it, if they are fucking Google and the giant corps that advertise with them, ehh.. not my problem and can't be…
Wouldn't this ultimately make money FOR Google and only cost money to the company that placed the ad? Sure, Google's paying but they get their money regardless.
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Upon connecting it to the internet… I hesitate to blame the victim here, but why on earth would you do that? “$40 Chinese-made” didn’t give you pause?
To be fair, everything is Chinese made. I would be even the Apple TV and NVIDIA Shield are made in China and if a state actor is determined to get a malicious payload in....
Yes. Chinese manufacturing is quite a phenomenon, useful and everywhere
But to be completely fair, a $40 video projector has a warning label. The price
I do not see problems with fake ad clicks and have no sympathy for ad companies. Also pre-installed adware is not a surprise, I found adware in the official firmware image of a certain Chinese tablet. What worries me much more is backdoors from the foreign companies and governments that can be pre-installed at the factory to collect intelligence information. For example, I became aware that a certain maker of a popul…
> I do not see problems with fake ad clicks and have no sympathy for ad companies. Yeah, it's like—a cheap streaming stick AND it poisons the advertising well? I'm pretty happy with my Fire TV Stick, but they're really tempting me here.
Keep in mind that it's your IP and identity associated with those clicks and anything else criminals decide to do with your IP address. That means you're identity is being linked to things you may or not want to be known as being interested/involved in. The ads your TV stick clicks on can cause data brokers to include your name in lists of people who are heavily into drugs, have mental disorders, belong to certain religions or political parties, etc. All of that can come back to haunt you later.
Depending on what other activity your connection is used for as a proxy it can also get you in trouble with the police or with your ISP.
I recently got an Apple TV 4K and have been really enjoying the ad free experience. Worth every penny. Our smart tv had turned into a Christmas tree of ads.
As much as I hate Apple for what they've done to the average consumer in regards to computing, it would be just impossible and dishonest to say anything other than Apple is the outright winner in streaming devices. The experience is so smooth.
In this case it’s actual malice, that the streaming stick is set up for residential proxy and ad fraud straight from the factory. But incompetence can lead to the same place if it’s a poorly engineered, un-maintained device with an old version of Android that will never be patched and is always one no-click exploit away from being commandeered into residential proxy and ad fraud.
Since these are poorly engineered, wonder how easy it'd be to reverse-engineer one and just get the free streaming on a non-scam device.
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My understanding is that Roku bypasses DNS blocking with hardcoded tables so it can report back on various data they track on you.
Can you monitor its traffic and block by IP?
This is already a common feature for analytics toolkits.
I already suggested the U.S. government ban all Chinese products which have a computer in them that's connected to the internet. Instead they're banning stuff willy nilly left and right without really solving the problem. But there's good stuff coming out of China as well. I recently bought a cheap e-reader which has no WiFi or internet connection and it works stellar. And I bought some cheap Chinese sport cams which…
Personally, I think every other country should ban any product made by Google, Amazon, and Microsoft since they all spy on the users of their products too.
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Perhaps they grew up in a time/environment where "if it was that bad they wouldn't be allowed to advertise it", and they're still using that old calibration?
My falther-in-law was less that and more, if I can get away with it, it's actually legal. Many know their fake, and do it because they can get away with it. That was his justification for a satellite descrambler, they're sending me the signals, obviously I'm allowed to.
> do it because they can get away with it.
Lots of people on HN download and upload copyrighted materials. Is it really different?