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Anyone who cares at all about their privacy wouldn't have a roku TV to start with. Roku is one of the most invasive companies there is. Their devices take multi

Anyone who cares at all about their privacy wouldn't have a roku TV to start with. Roku is one of the most invasive companies there is. Their devices take multiple screenshots of whatever is on your screen every second and then uploads those images to their servers to be scrutinized so that they can make assumptions about you as a person. If you have a Roku TV they can do that for any non-roku device you're using too. LG, Samsung, and Skyworth TVs have also injected popup ads over games/DVDs/Blurays/whatever. LG's OLED monitors have even been pushing ads on PC users.

heyoni 3y ago
With LG it can all be turned off and as a PC user using their TV’s it works perfectly offline. ACR is fairly easy to opt out of on LG while nearly impossible with Samsung. Their monitor/tv hybrid ultrawide would basically force you to connect to the internet once a month or else DRM content from my Apple TV would stop working.
8organicbits 3y ago
I clearly made a mistake, but I bought a Roku after seeing how often my Samsung TV was pinging back on my pi-hole DNS logs (constantly). The last two years it's had an increasing number of ads on the home screen. I won't buy another.
- throwaway5959 3y ago
  I have to wonder what their end-game is. Eventually the word has to get out.
  - autoexec 3y ago
    There is no end goal. They're desensitizing consumers and their children until what they're doing is seen as normal and acceptable so that they can push a little farther. Except for the fact that ads didn't obscure the content, Idiocracy had the right idea https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/177/1166398973.jpg https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/177/116639897...
    - temporarely 3y ago
      "Because advertising" ..
BeetleB 3y ago
> Their devices take multiple screenshots of whatever is on your screen every second and then uploads those images to their servers to be scrutinized so that they can make assumptions about you as a person. Source? Also, do they do it only on Roku TVs, or even Roku devices like their sticks?
- avidiax 3y ago
  Automatic Content Recognition (ACR), it's called, generically. https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/privacy/how-to-turn-off-smart-tv-snooping-features-a4840102036/ https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/privacy/how-to-t... The TV makers don't need ACR when you are using apps on their OS. Those apps all report the currently playing title to the OS maker. ACR is used for when you watch broadcast TV or anything coming in over HDMI. The margins on TVs are surprisingly small, so being able to show you a few dollars of ads every year dramatically improves that margin, which allows the TV to be either a better value or cheaper compared to other sets you see in the store.
  - BeetleB 3y ago
    From what I'm seeing, Roku's ACR does not "take multiple screenshots of whatever is on your screen every second", as claimed. Furthermore, I'm not seeing whether they do this on their non-TV devices. Edit: Seems the question is answered here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39950370 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39950370
  - jonathanlydall 3y ago
    It’s somewhat sickening, for essentially making pennies a month per user, all users of the TV have adverts inflicted upon them. When I need to replace my TV, I will happily pay the extra 10s of dollars for one which will never do this.
    - avidiax 3y ago
      It's dollars per month. I have heard that Netflix is not charging enough for their ad-free tier to compensate the lost ad revenue. Pricing an ad-free tier is a bit problematic. You would think that it should cost simply the ad-revenue per user more. However, since the more the ad free tier costs, the more advertisers would pay to reach those customers, the marginal ad revenue is higher. Someone on a hypothetical $30/mo ad-free tier has high disposable income, and is probably not being impressed by many ads already.
cma 3y ago
Samsung was caught sending screenshots of your TV too (if a deaf person was using TV as a monitor and communicating over teletype I'm not sure how this wouldn't violate wiretapping laws). https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/samsung-smart-tvs-are-set-to-upload-screenshots-of-what-youre-watching/ https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/samsung-smart-tvs...
- oneepic 3y ago
  I think from their perspective, the likely $XXm legal settlement wouldn't be worth the time and effort to bring a case against Samsung for this crime. I guess it could go on a backlog somewhere though. Still unfortunate. Anyway, it doesn't violate wiretapping laws, because the resources/budget to uphold the law isn't high enough. A programmer might say they chose availability over consistency.
Solvency 3y ago
Why would Roku need to take screenshots of your TV when they're the ones piping you the content on said TV...
- wvenable 3y ago
  For the HDMI inputs and live TV. Not everyone uses the built in apps on the TV.
sneak 3y ago
If you are using an ATV or Chromecast, why would you connect your TV itself to the network at all?
- autoexec 3y ago
  The redditor who noticed ads pushed to his LG gaming monitor said he connected it to wifi for updates. I think a lot of people assume that updates are really important and don't expect companies to screw them over with ads.
  - sneak 3y ago
    If it’s not on the network, it doesn’t need updates.
LtWorf 3y ago
People aren't tv experts. A tv breaks and you look for a replacement…

heyoni 3y ago

With LG it can all be turned off and as a PC user using their TV’s it works perfectly offline. ACR is fairly easy to opt out of on LG while nearly impossible with Samsung. Their monitor/tv hybrid ultrawide would basically force you to connect to the internet once a month or else DRM content from my Apple TV would stop working.

8organicbits 3y ago

I clearly made a mistake, but I bought a Roku after seeing how often my Samsung TV was pinging back on my pi-hole DNS logs (constantly). The last two years it's had an increasing number of ads on the home screen. I won't buy another.

throwaway5959 3y ago
I have to wonder what their end-game is. Eventually the word has to get out.
- autoexec 3y ago
  There is no end goal. They're desensitizing consumers and their children until what they're doing is seen as normal and acceptable so that they can push a little farther. Except for the fact that ads didn't obscure the content, Idiocracy had the right idea https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/177/1166398973.jpg https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/177/116639897...
  - temporarely 3y ago
    "Because advertising" ..

BeetleB 3y ago

> Their devices take multiple screenshots of whatever is on your screen every second and then uploads those images to their servers to be scrutinized so that they can make assumptions about you as a person. Source? Also, do they do it only on Roku TVs, or even Roku devices like their sticks?

avidiax 3y ago
Automatic Content Recognition (ACR), it's called, generically. https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/privacy/how-to-turn-off-smart-tv-snooping-features-a4840102036/ https://www.consumerreports.org/electronics/privacy/how-to-t... The TV makers don't need ACR when you are using apps on their OS. Those apps all report the currently playing title to the OS maker. ACR is used for when you watch broadcast TV or anything coming in over HDMI. The margins on TVs are surprisingly small, so being able to show you a few dollars of ads every year dramatically improves that margin, which allows the TV to be either a better value or cheaper compared to other sets you see in the store.
- BeetleB 3y ago
  From what I'm seeing, Roku's ACR does not "take multiple screenshots of whatever is on your screen every second", as claimed. Furthermore, I'm not seeing whether they do this on their non-TV devices. Edit: Seems the question is answered here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39950370 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39950370
- jonathanlydall 3y ago
  It’s somewhat sickening, for essentially making pennies a month per user, all users of the TV have adverts inflicted upon them. When I need to replace my TV, I will happily pay the extra 10s of dollars for one which will never do this.
  - avidiax 3y ago
    It's dollars per month. I have heard that Netflix is not charging enough for their ad-free tier to compensate the lost ad revenue. Pricing an ad-free tier is a bit problematic. You would think that it should cost simply the ad-revenue per user more. However, since the more the ad free tier costs, the more advertisers would pay to reach those customers, the marginal ad revenue is higher. Someone on a hypothetical $30/mo ad-free tier has high disposable income, and is probably not being impressed by many ads already.

cma 3y ago

Samsung was caught sending screenshots of your TV too (if a deaf person was using TV as a monitor and communicating over teletype I'm not sure how this wouldn't violate wiretapping laws). https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/samsung-smart-tvs-are-set-to-upload-screenshots-of-what-youre-watching/ https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/blog/samsung-smart-tvs...

oneepic 3y ago
I think from their perspective, the likely $XXm legal settlement wouldn't be worth the time and effort to bring a case against Samsung for this crime. I guess it could go on a backlog somewhere though. Still unfortunate. Anyway, it doesn't violate wiretapping laws, because the resources/budget to uphold the law isn't high enough. A programmer might say they chose availability over consistency.

Solvency 3y ago

Why would Roku need to take screenshots of your TV when they're the ones piping you the content on said TV...

wvenable 3y ago
For the HDMI inputs and live TV. Not everyone uses the built in apps on the TV.

sneak 3y ago

If you are using an ATV or Chromecast, why would you connect your TV itself to the network at all?

autoexec 3y ago
The redditor who noticed ads pushed to his LG gaming monitor said he connected it to wifi for updates. I think a lot of people assume that updates are really important and don't expect companies to screw them over with ads.
- sneak 3y ago
  If it’s not on the network, it doesn’t need updates.

LtWorf 3y ago

People aren't tv experts. A tv breaks and you look for a replacement…