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Why Apple TV Beats Roku and Fire TV for Privacy Protection
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All multinational corporation have to follow laws in the countries they do business in. Simple choice actually. Apple's move in England was interesting on the public side. Behind the curtain of the 5 eyes it's hidden by officials we elect. so who knows. FBI just said "Never Mind" 😂
Unfortunately, there are almost no de-Google Android TV ROMs and suitable hardware. I would like to see something like GrapheneOS but with Android TV. That would be a very cool open source project, I would also be willing to donate.
I'll stick with LibreELEC and my kids use Apple TV.
I'll stick with LibreELEC and my kids use Apple TV.
Please refrain from using words that you don’t understand. The EU is not fascist in any sense of the word, it’s neoliberal.
They won’t be able to because they don’t understand the words they’ve used.
I'm pretty sure Apple anonymizes the data, meaning it isn't tied to your Apple ID or location. I guarantee you that isn't the case with Google, Meta, Amazon, Roku, or any smart TV os.
The Google TV OS on my Hisense TV has been disabled since I bought it 3 years ago, and I canceled cable 2 1/2 years ago. I use my Apple TV for apps and content and it's been awesome. No more surfing through 57 channels and nothing on.
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I saw this article yesterday and the concerning part is that financial incentives could eventually just lead Apple to allow tracking via software update.
The situation could change at any time basically.
It’s very much a concern of mine given so many of their other moves around Financial areas.
The situation could change at any time basically.
It’s very much a concern of mine given so many of their other moves around Financial areas.
Another security perk of the Apple TV is that the apps are automatically and constantly updated. Whereas smart TV's more than a few years old may not even be able to support the latest app security updates.
Speaking of just a bunch of talk—provide some links to some evidence that prove your claim that it’s just “media BS” and “Apple is just as bad as anyone at focusing their interests on profits beyond…privacy”, otherwise why should we believe you over Apple and other media? I would provide links to counter your claims (to start off, this article would be one), but I’m guessing you would just wave all evidence off as BS as you just did. I’ll ask you this instead—what actual evidence would it take to convince you that Apple has higher standards for privacy than its competitors? Or are you too emotionally invested and dug into your view that nothing could ever change your mind?
My issue with Apple TV is that it means I have to buy a redundant product. I don't see myself paying for a separate device to plug into my smart TV which already has a native user interface for the same streaming apps.
Believe what you want. Not here to convince you. Marketing and talking the game is far more important to Tim than doing the right thing to ensure people have their privacy. Apple doesn’t want to give backdoor access to any government, but you can be sure all that data is available through various means. It’s widely known by so many in the intelligence community that all of this communication on Apple’s end is marketing not reality.
I can prove anything I want and you can prove anything you want. The Internet is full of BS. The reality is ALL companies want to take advantage of you to ensure their shareholders maximize the value as this is what pays CEOs the big bucks.
Don’t you know, if you say “it’s widely known” then you can say anything after that and it becomes true. /s
I'm not worried about Apple, who don't use ACR, but about Samsung, who does and could be screenshotting everything coming in over HDMI. I'm going to have to root through god knows how many intentionally hidden parts of their website to disable everything.
(I know someone is going to say I should take the TV itself offline, but it's a Frame TV and doing that would kill that functionality, which is why I bought this specific model. Otherwise I totally would.)
This is false.
Because I lived in several different countries back before Apple unified its back-end, I have a number of different Apple IDs. Plus, the IDs I picked up when I got married.
Those IDs are spread out across different services on different devices, including two AppleTVs.
There are Apple IDs on my phone that are not on an AppleTV, and vice versa.
Yes, but it's worse interface and one with a conveyor belt that feeds god knows how many data harvesters -- and may also be encrusted with advertising as a bonus. Every time I've had to deal with the interface on some random smart TV, I've wanted to claw out my eyes because it's so kludgy.
The $120 or so I spent on the Apple TV box, years ago, has let me bypass that mess for thousands of hours in favor of a device that has no advertising, a great remote, and perfect integration with my other Apple devices (iPhone, Mac, AirPods). I wish more of the tech dollars I've spent bought me this much.
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The internet is full of BS so everyone should just believe what they want? What’s the point of these online discussions?
I know companies are trying to make money. So am I. It’s not inherently evil or scandalous.
Fire TV tends to be an overall unpleasant experience when navigating the UI of the OS due to all its inherent telemetry and ads for starters. I mostly use Android TV and Google TV as daily drivers instead.
Have you read the privacy policy for your TV?
Apple TV also is good at content aggregation on all the streaming service I use except Netflix. If I watch something on them it shows up in the continue watching section. I find myself actually watching more on the the other services than having to browse them all separately.
Aside from the top level continue watching each service has their own.
If your TV is connected to the internet, there's a decent chance it's using Automatic Content Recognition to identify the show/movie that's on screen, and then selling that information to advertisers and data brokers. If you're using an Apple TV as a front end, there is no reason to have the TV itself connected to the internet (I recall also a story some time back about TVs where the owner didn't have them connected, but the TV was programmed to look for open WiFi networks in range, so it could "phone home").
On my LG, I had it connected via ethernet long enough to get firmware updates, and then disconnected it (it never got my WiFi credentials). I also intentionally refused to agree to the last half of the ToS agreements, which would have enabled all the fancy TV apps / UI and content recognition features. It works essentially as a monitor (that can handle HDR and Dolby Vision/etc), an input switcher (95% of the time it just switches to the most recently active input, which is what I want), and an occasional old-school TV for playing OTA broadcasts (SNL and the Olympics and the Super Bowl and such). And I'm very happy with it doing just that. I've never used their built-in apps, I'm much happier with the Apple TV as a front end (along with my PS5).
The problem is, they've leaned heavily on privacy as one of the key elements that make them different. If they started allowing tracking like everyone else, they'd get a very substantial backlash, and would lose customers and revenue (and stock price).