Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information.
Clarification: after a bit of research it seems the olfactory section pertains to CCPA California law, many places have olfactory in the privacy policy because it is required by the law. I can’t believe we reached a point where we have to put olfactory in the privacy policy, but then again it won’t be long before Smell-O-Vision becomes reality.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smell-O-Vision
They removed it, archived here: https://archive.ph/YYBuJ
Also have a California ip you get a different privacy policy.
my roku TV felt my wrath because it dared to show me a banner ad while I was in the middle of a game.
i promptly disabled internet on it completely. now it’s a dumb TV. and my life is much better.
I want to recommend that you change your WiFi password. Even though you disabled the internet, it may still phone home.
oh it’s a relief that we have recently changed it. the bastard roku is completely locked out.
Better yet, tear the wifi antenna off the board, can’t connect to wifi without any antenna, no matter how hard you try.
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We’ll have fun all TV’s are smart TVs.
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That isn’t true
Samsung QBR line is an example of a dumb tv
Yep disabled Internet and I cast video from my phone to the TV so I can control what appears on the screen.
Never give your TV the wifi password.
The problem is that some TVs (cough Samsung) won’t allow you to even use the thing as a monitor until you allow it online.
That would have been an instant return for me.
I’ve heard tell of this, I’ve been wondering something. Can you change your wifi password, give it the new one for setup, and then disconnect and restore your typical password and continue to use the TV, or does it need an active connection?
Good question, I’ve heard rumors that they’ll eventually get upset and throw an impassable splash screen until you reconnect, but I’ve never seen it myself.
You can return it.
My workplace uses Samsung TVs. I found a trick to let it run without connecting to WiFi. On the screen where it asks you to connect to a network, just click right like you wanted to skip it and it will skip it even though it doesn’t say that’s an option. YMMV though, I can’t say if it works for all TVs.
Better yet, don’t buy a Samsung TV but this might come in handy if you happen to have one.
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Not sure about LG. But it also depends on model as well afaik. Most Samsungs I know that were bought via Walmart, Best Buy, Costco, etc had that issue, but one of my commercial clients bought a couple and it was a non-issue, so ymmv. I typically like Sonys, but I also have a reseller account with them through my wholesaler and get them significantly cheaper than retail.
I have an LG GX and have never experienced this. I’d assume the G line and up won’t have this issue, and to my knowledge even the lower tier C models don’t have this issue. A friend of mine recently got a C3 (I think, idk what they’re up to yet, maybe 4? It’s the newest C model) and it doesn’t have this ad issue either.
I’ll be honest, the 3 times I’ve seen it were Samsungs and purchased at box stores. The rest I have no firsthand experience, but I’ve seen enough people bitching about it online.
This is false. I just bought a brand-new current-model Samsung QN90D QLED TV. Like any modern device it nags you to connect to WiFi/Ethernet during the setup, but the “decline” button is not hidden and it’s completely optional. Not sure if that’s on-par with older models, but I just have it connected to my external Roku and several consoles via HDMI. Completely offline. No ads on the home screen (not that I really use it, I just switch inputs). All features are available: 4K, AI upscaling, HDR+, 144hz gaming mode, etc…
Eh I want to control it with my automation. But it can’t connect to the wan. Have firewall rules blocking it.
It is always better to do that shit with a separate gizmo. Ideally, something computery enough that it will not betray you, or cheap enough that you can take a hammer to it when it does.
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Alright. I hope they enjoy smelling my dog’s farts all day.
Maybe that’s why they removed it… 🤔
Super weird. I would assume that olfactory sensors would cost more per TV than Roku would make by collecting the data. Afaik there’s no such thing as electronic olfactory sensors per se anyway. In before labs start buying Roku TVs because they all have gas chromatography machines inside them.
It is related to the California Law, there are no sensors in the tv. The strange thing is that they reverted the policy without informing anyone.
https://www.zengrc.com/blog/what-are-the-ccpa-categories-of-personal-information/
Ah. I appreciate the context. Now my confusion is just shifted from Roku to California legislators. I can appreciate future proofing a law, but this seems a bit on the nose.
Also just so you are aware apparently the changes weren’t removed, but only show if you have a US ip. So US have their own privacy policy that differs from the rest of the world. The reason it was included is probably this https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smell-O-Vision.
This is the US policy dated January 2025: https://docs.roku.com/api/v1/published/userprivacypolicy/en/US/text
The rest of the world it is dated 12 December.
They pushed these changes on Christmas Day.
Knowing no one would read it, since they’re with family just trying to watch a lovely Christmas movie. Bastards.
Edit: autocorrect
The new section pertains to the California Law about biometric data collection, it seems they removed it because it was applied worldwide and they didn’t want that. I used a California VPN server and the privacy policy changed for me.
If you buy something nowadays and it connects to the Internet, it’s bad. Treat it like it’s bad. VLAN it, firewall it, force it to use your DNS only and block everything until it breaks then figure out what it actually needs.
then figure out what it actually needs.
It needs tracking to work.
Also, I hardly see my non tech relatives following your advice 🤣
Don’t give it internet, return it if it “needs” internet.
What you’re doing is a losing battle; once internet connected everything is normalised they’ll stop working if you block tracking and suddenly you’re the weird one.
Instead, vote with your wallet, talk with others about how annoying/bad this is and get them to vote with their wallets, too!
I don’t connect my Roku TV to the internet, and always use external devi e via HDMI.
Ok. Which device u connect?
Another device that collects the same shit probably 😂😥
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There’s a reason why they’re so cheap compared to the hardware contained within them.
That’s just because they sell them at a loss, and the games at a massive profit. This is widely known.
I mean the list is pretty small. Unless they install Kodi - everything else is compromised.
It’s a lot easier and cheaper to replace a small device (Roku, Apple TV, Nvidia Shield, Chromecast, Fire Stick, XBMC box, computer, etc) than it is your entire TV. Once you connect and update your TV, I don’t think you can choose to downgrade it later…
I don’t get the logic or what your point is.
Laptop, or a mini PC
Sure, but what os u run? The only open source one for home media is Kodi.
I’ve ran it for a while. But it’s a pita.
My most people that also have jobs don’t do that.I run Arch on both my PC and Laptop. I self host a few containers to stream media from. Either use web front end, or native apps.
I both have a job, and maintain all of this. For fun.
Ya I wanted so bad to like Kodi but no matter what I do it crashes at least a few times daily. Constant audio sync problems and lockups as well.
My Roku media player, obviously…
The moose is tightening.
Probably a catch-all for their next generation of Roku devices they’re developing.
It is definitely a catch all, disclosure of this information is required by California law, that is the only reason they even put it in the policy. They seem to have accidentally released it worldwide, which is why they reverted it, now it only shows if you have a California ip.
Roku is, first and foremost, an advertising platform.
My friend uses roku and I found it hilariously dystopian that the screen saver is basically just an artistic side scrolling city scape with billboards that advertise shit shows and movies you can stream or pay for.
Plex/Jellyfin is the only way to go.
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Smell-O-Vision sounds like a great idea until you think about it while watching a zombie movie.
When Roku took all four of my set-top roku devices hostage a while back with their forced Terms of Service update, I threw them all in the trash and have warned people against using them since.
Roku is a garbage ad company that will continue to use your devices against you.
