Roku’s Ultimatum: Surrender Jury Trial Rights or Lose Access to Your TVs ( programming.dev )

Did your Roku TV decide to strong arm you into giving up your rights or lose your FULLY FUNCTIONING WORKING TV? Because mine did.

It doesn’t matter if you only use it as a dumb panel for an Apple TV, Fire stick, or just to play your gaming console. You either agree or get bent.

Lutra ,

What about the one sided ability to change a contract??

A year from now Roku pop up says “Click to Accept” , the text says **"this contract means you’ll have to give us your first born child? ** My reasoning says if they can do one then they can do the other. There is nothing that would prevent them from adding ‘fees’, or ‘subscriptions’ or simply turning off the device. (!)

This is egregious. We bought something. In normal commerce, the contract was set in stone at that moment. The seller can’t roll up 2 years later, change the contract, force you to agree before you can use your device, and then say , well maybe if you beg, you can opt out.

intensely_human ,

Pray they don’t alter it further

elbrar ,
@elbrar@pawb.social avatar

My muscle memory is to hit power-right-ok to open youtube when I turn the tv on, most of the time without looking at it. The other day, it ended up still sitting on the default menu item after I did that. This must have popped up then. Something that can be dismissed without ever actually seeing it is certainly not enforceable.

Blackmist ,

The real question is what is Roku doing that might necessitate a jury trial in the first place.

The answer is spying and selling all your data to advertisers. Using ACR they can tell everything passing through that box and display adverts accordingly. Just what you want when watching a DVD.

Postreader2814 ,

I hope they like watching me masturbate to porn on my couch.

RagingRobot ,

I don’t think they can see that but by all means keep going

Blackmist ,

But if he’s watching the porn on a Roku TV, they’ll know what porn it is and what to recommend next.

teamevil ,

Ohhhh…what site can I see that? Let’s plan a sad afternoon together!

irotsoma ,
@irotsoma@lemmy.world avatar

Every company has started doing that. Almost every EULA now has clauses forcing you to give up your right to class action lawsuits and jury trials and to use corporate-friendly mediation instead.

lolcatnip ,

Hasn’t that been a thing pretty much as long as EULAs?

irotsoma ,
@irotsoma@lemmy.world avatar

No, it’s been pretty common in the last decade or so. First they added mediation clauses mostly just to scare people into using mediation instead of suing. But once they realized that courts were enforcing the clauses even though most legal experts assumed that they weren’t valid since most people couldn’t reasonably expected to read EULAs much less understand them and they were being added to things that people didn’t reasonably expect to have complex legal implications, they realized they could put other stuff in there and have it enforced. So now there’s tons of shady stuff in some of them.

Same thing as those companies that would send you a check for like a dollar that looked like it came from a legit source, but really was a marketing campaign paying that legit source for their customer lists and to put their name on it, and in the signature line on the back they’d add a bunch of text saying you agreed to sign up for some expensive service or whatever. People would cash the check without realizing what it was and then the company would sign them up for something and it was allowed for a long time even though many legal experts said it shouldn’t be legally binding.

Over9000transHP ,
@Over9000transHP@lemmy.ml avatar

TV is a TV. Nothing changed at all.

starman2112 ,
@starman2112@sh.itjust.works avatar

At this point if you still have your television hooked up to the internet you deserve whatever these companies do to you. The TV would work just fine if you’d never told it about your wifi.

Gimpydude ,

A lot of TVs these days won’t start working without wifi. I set up a temporary ssid, set up the TV then delete it.

starman2112 ,
@starman2112@sh.itjust.works avatar

Hooking it up once is one thing, but actively using the Internet connectivity is just begging these companies to screw you over. That being said, I’d sooner bring it back to the store and get a different one than let it phone home even once.

GoodEye8 ,

Yes, let’s blame the users for having a shitty product. I’m not going to build a whole setup just so my wife could watch Netflix. Not to mention putting her through the troubles of having learn a new more convoluted way to do the same thing, and then I have to get a lecture on why I shouldn’t spend money on needless tech thingoes that make her live complicated. What’s your suggestion, get a new wife?

How about you show some compassion for OP. You don’t know his situation. Maybe he has a wife a home who will wring his neck if he doesn’t keep the TV connected. It’s not OPs fault Roku is a POS company, blame Roku not OP.

InvaderDJ ,

Compassion is definitely needed here the user shouldn’t be blamed.

But it is also true that essentially every smart TV is garbage. Never connect them to the internet or use their built in software. Something like an Apple TV will be faster, provide a better experience and be easier to use than any smart TV. Same with something like the nVidia Shield.

starman2112 ,
@starman2112@sh.itjust.works avatar

I just have too high an opinion of people to expect them not to be able to learn how to use a Chromecast or home theater PC. I’m not gonna assume that some guy’s wife is so tech illiterate that she can’t figure out how to do anything more complex than four arrows, an ok button, and a back button. If someone wants their TV connected to the internet that’s fine, but when you hinge all your media consumption entirely on one company, you must realize that that company now has control over your media consumption. It’s fine to complain when they change the deal, but it’s to be expected.

Reddfugee42 ,

Captain Edgy gets the edgy brownie!

starman2112 ,
@starman2112@sh.itjust.works avatar

If you think that comment was edgy then you should probably get your parents’ permission before getting on the internet

Reddfugee42 ,

Worked for you!

spujb ,

never blame the powerless when the one with all the power is calling the shots

doing so is called victim blaming and is generally frowned upon

starman2112 ,
@starman2112@sh.itjust.works avatar

You have the power to not use their services. The people with power are the government, the police, and billionaires. You can’t choose not to live in capitalism. You can choose to use something other than Roku.

AlexisFR ,
@AlexisFR@jlai.lu avatar

Cool. Can you buy something else and stop talking about it for days now?

MaddieTian ,

What if you never connect it to the internet? Surely then it’s a just a dumb TV.

Reddfugee42 ,

You’d never get this update…

potentiallynotfelix ,
@potentiallynotfelix@iusearchlinux.fyi avatar

I haven’t connected mine to the internet for a long time

normalexit ,

I’m so disappointed in Roku lately. I still have a few streaming sticks in my house and one TV (I went all in), and I’m going to slowly replace them with something else.

I have an apple tv and that is nice, but I would love a little open source player that isn’t an htpc or super pricey.

unphazed ,

I work for a streaming cable company and we keep getting calls about this. It’s not us, its Roku. You have to use your tv remote. Sorry you threw it away. We emulate the basic functions, but why would we emulate an asterisk? You’re cancelling because we can’t fix a third party issue… gotcha.

EmperorHenry ,
@EmperorHenry@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

yar har fiddle dee dee you are a pirate.

Bleach7297 ,
@Bleach7297@lemmy.ca avatar

You are a P̸̡̖̻̖͎̫̞̯̙͚͐̽̌̃̃͑̾͑̃̇̃̌̌̓ͪ̚͟͝͏̷̡̡͘͟͟͜͟I̶̶̡̳̼̪̰̥̬͋̃͘̕͟͡͡ͅĘ̸̧̪͉͉̙͙̝͍̞͍̣͓͚̬̞̙̪ͥ̐ͬͩ̃ͨͥͦͫ̿̀̀́̚͟͡C̴̸̸̨̤̘̝̺͉̙̱̰͇̻̙̥̑͒ͭ̇̀͐ͪ̐̏̐ͬ̀́̚͘͜͠͝͝E̸̴̢̮̦͎̫̲̬͓̳̪̖̪ͭ̒͐̔ͮͧ̅ͨ̽͋̇̊͌ͯͬͭͨ́̀̚͢͜͟͜͡͝͏̵̢̛̛̀͜͝-̰͎͎͎̬̙ͫ͊ͣ̚͘҉̢̛̛́͘͟͞͞Ơ̵̵̧̛̥̜̦̹͍ͨ̿̐̓͋ͤ̉ͬ̄͋ͪ̆͑́͘̕͘͟͟͜͜͡͡F̙͎̟͔̥͈̦̔͋ͩ̏͌ͧ͑͆͒ͩ̿͒ͥ͐́̀͜͏̛͢-̶̭̭̲̻̫̠̲̳̭̯̟̏͆̎ͣͩ̉͑ͨͩͧ͟ͅ͏͟͡͞͠͠͏̴̴͝S̶̴̴̶̸̵̢̧̹ͣ̎ͪͥ̿̊́͆̓̐̊͑͢͟͢͢͞͠҉̨̢͡H͕͖̞̠͔̤̏̓ͩ̒ͯ̚͢͞I̖͇̯̹ͥ͌̐̇͏̶̵̶̧̨̛̛͡͡͝͡͏̢́́̀͠͞Ţ̴̷̷̨̧̛̠̯̞̞̌͐̐̑̐̍ͨ̏́͘̕͠͠҉̛́́͡, you are a piiirate!

Yarhar ,

“My child, a minor, clicked agree when trying to use the TV I paid for. I have never seen this EULA.”

buddascrayon ,

Yeah, I believe I heard there was a case that had proved that judges have no interest in holding people to EULAs.

jeremyparker ,

I don’t think anyone is allowed to take away your right to being a part of a class action lawsuit as a requirement to use a TV. Recent SCOTUS shenanigans aside, I can’t imagine a judge would let that fly.

FordBeeblebrox ,

Maybe those who sign up for warranty promos that often offer free gifts? Plenty more space for meditation language in the bottom of that EULA

TrickDacy ,

So Roku is also a piece of shit too eh? I knew that their device I bought wasn’t great but I thought it was just a cheap one. Glad I’m creating a media PC on Linux

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