Roku is exploring ways to show consumers ads on its TVs even when they are not using its streaming platform: The company has been looking into injecting ads into the video feeds of third-party devices connected to its TVs, according to a recent patent filing.
This way, when an owner of a Roku TV takes a short break from playing a game on their Xbox, or streaming something on an Apple TV device connected to the TV set, Roku would use that break to show ads. Roku engineers have even explored ways to figure out what the consumer is doing with their TV-connected device in order to display relevant advertising.
Am I the only one who gets the feeling that this is kinda dystopic? Like come on, this just gets crazy. It amazes me that some people think this is an ethically acceptable way to earn money.
What makes you think they have ethics to believe in? About 1 in 100 people is a functional sociopath on some level; they can’t all be lawyers, politicians, executives, sales people, and criminals. There’s gotta be a few engineers in there somewhere.
True, hood point. I remember to have read a study according to which a disproportionate amount of people at the top (aka CEOs) display narcissistic behavioral traits - so it can make sense to suspect the same applies to other personality disorders. It just feels ahhh to me - that these people dont utilize their talents and itelligence to improve the world, but to build up ways to monetize every last bit of your time. Like come on :/
We are living in a cyberpunk dystopia right now. Or the beginnings of one. We’re just missing all the cool and badass stuff from the genre.
This shouldn’t be legal… You already paid for the TV, if you’re not using their services - TV’s all yours.