In Soviet America, TV Watches You: Vizio to charge premium for TVs that do not spy on you.

[TheBlackAdder]

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Vizio exec: we'd have to charge a premium on "dumb" TVs to make up for the money we'll lose by not spying on you



At CES, the Verge's Nilay Patel interviewed Vizio CTO Bill Baxter, who told her that when it comes to the surveillance features of his company's "smart" TVs, "it’s not just about data collection. It’s about post-purchase monetization of the TV...[When it comes to 'dumb' TVs,] we’d collect a little bit more margin at retail to offset it."

The remarks come in the context of the low margins in the TV market, which Baxter gives as 6%, and how companies like his are driven to seek out other revenue streams for their products.

But Baxter also implies that he doesn't believe there's a market for dumb TVs, even at a premium. This is certainly what I discovered last year when my family bought a house and went TV shopping: there were no panels large enough for my wife's satisfaction (she's a retired pro gamer and wanted a really big screen) unless we were willing to buy a set with several kinds of built-in networking and sensors that would put our home under surveillance.

In theory, you can turn all that stuff off, but then you have to trust that the manufacturer is both honest and competent, both of which seem like needless risks to take, especially in an era when companies face virtually no liability for product defects, routinely cover them up, and threaten whistleblowers who disclose their sneaky data-collection and poor software quality.

https://boingboing.net/2019/01/11/telescreens-r-us.html

So, they need to sell the dumb TVs at a higher price to offset what they get in mining your privacy.

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[exboyfil]

1. I like the combination of a dumb TV

and a $25 Firestick. I have seen some of the Smart TVs with the blue screen of death.

I do suspect that Alexa is spying on me though.

[TheBlackAdder]

2. Alexa spying on you? Nah, Amazon wouldn't do that! :-D

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. Amazon is doing that already with Fire tablet.

Standard Fire tablet order comes with advertising. Said advertising makes their Silk browser almost unusable, and is also on some apps.
For 15.00 you can get them to remove the advertising. Or so they say.
I have the Alexa feature, don't really use it much, and try to remember to keep the tablet OFF when not using.

As for the "smart" features, including tvs...yet another of the growing reasons we have dumped the box, even tho the improved screen clarity was tempting. I would actually watch a football game on it if we had it, but advertising interruptions irritated me to the point that no tv is better for my nerves. And wallet.

[2naSalit]

4. Yeah, add that to the list of new "smart" stuff

I won't be buying. Of course, I'd probably be their worst nightmare if their intent is to get me to buy stuff, I don't buy stuff. Don't need lots of stuff and I don't have money to buy it anyway.

[TheBlackAdder]

6. Multiple friends note, when home from work, when we use Google or other sites, telemarketers call.

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As soon as our presence is known, our home phones start to ring, within seconds of clicking the enter key.

I've moved over to Private Internet Access VPN, and once doing do, almost all telemarketing calls have stopped.


I have alerted my friends and peers top check out this phenomenon. Now, I am atomized and route my internet connection out of North Jersey or New York. PIA allows me to connect to a multitude of domestic cities, and dozens of other countries. So, if you want to watch content that is restricted to the UK, you can connect to a UK drop and watch as though you're local.

But, the greatest benefit is that Google and others have no idea who I am, unless I log into their services.

Since they don't know who I am, they don't know I'm home.

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[FakeNoose]

5. You can turn off your "smart" TV, but your cable/ISP company still tracks you

I have Verizon Fios which is a great cable/internet service, but never for one minute did I believe they weren't tracking my every move online and what I watch on my TV screen. The only way to stop them tracking you is to get a good VPN - virtual private network. I have one that costs $60 per year and it's well worth it. I get billed $15 per quarter and I can cancel whenever I want to. (NO my VPN doesn't track me!)

[TheBlackAdder]

7. I have FiOS, check out my post above.

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https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211666612#post6

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[FakeNoose]

9. I love their NoMoRobo service - it's free from Fios

It shuts off all calls from robo-dialers and I was getting tons of them. Now I'm not getting any. I can block up to 100 nuisance callers in addition to the robo-dialers, and that would be people who use caller ID but I don't want to talk to them. The Central Blood Bank was calling me twice a day even though I asked them to take me off their call list. So now they are blocked, and many more numbers too.

[TheBlackAdder]

10. The problem is, the calls I get are telemarketers spoofing local businesses and homes on Caller ID.

[keithbvadu2]

8. Trustworthy privacy electronics.

Of course they don't show the microwave ovens that spy on you.

[highplainsdem]

11. Chilling. Glad my dumb HDTV still works.