ACR is "not enabled by default"? Is this actually true or is it one of those weasley technicalities where the tv ships with it turned off, but once you connect the tv to the internet it turns on?

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ZoneZealot 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Technically when you turn the TV on for the first time, ACR is not enabled. Ergo, not enabled by default.

Sure, to use the TV you need to go past the EULA screen. And the button right in front of you, pre-selected - is agree to all terms. And after pressing OK, you now have ACR turned on. But you did that, it wasn't on by default.

Okay I can take my soul sucking corporate hat off now.

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OptionX 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Soul sucking is right.

Its looks like the sort of stuff that happens to a tragic fantasy hero after a Faustian deal. Except they would've asked for riches, love or eternal youth, we on the other hand just want our middling-quality tv to work.

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Silhouette 6 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Sure, to use the TV you need to go past the EULA screen.

And that's where the problem is.

TVs should be TVs. Phones should be phones. Cars should be cars. If the manufacturers can't help themselves adding other stuff that is for their own benefit and not the product owner's and some of it so bad that it needs legal weasel words to CTA and competition in the market is insufficient to kill these practices off then it's time for heavy-handed regulation.

Maybe we say you can't sell any product in these categories in our country with any remote connectivity at all except for specifically permitted uses. Maybe the penalty for wilful violation is a warning with a big fine. Maybe the penalty for repeated wilful violation is fines that are an existential threat to the business and personally barring the corporate executives from holding corporate office for the next five years. That kind of thing.

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alt227 5 hours ago | parent [-]

On LG TVs there are about 5 separate agreements you need to accept. You dont need to accept them all to use the tv, but in the initial setup LG puts a handy 'Accept All' button front and center, which agrees to all 5 incrluding the unnecessary ones and turns on the ACR feature. This is the dark pattern most people are pissed about.

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Silhouette 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

But again the real question is why a TV should need users to accept any kind of post-sale agreement at all to be used normally (meaning "as reasonably expected and/or explicitly advertised").

Maybe the simplest solution is to pass a consumer protection law that completely nullifies any such post-sale agreements and makes pre-sale agreements enforceable only if they have massive prominence and standardised warnings on the packaging like the ones we require here in England on tobacco products. Then everyone can just use the regular tech security and privacy laws against any company that is spying on its customers or compromising their home networks without consent - which would probably be any company that operated this kind of scheme at all because I doubt many manufacturers would want to print "WARNING: USING THIS PRODUCT DAMAGES THE SECURITY AND PRIVACY OF YOUR HOME AND DEVICES" in six inch high lettering on their boxes.

	▲	RetroTechie 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I'm no lawyer, but afaik so-called "shrink-wrap" licence agreements, where vendor would like people to believe you've agreed by buying & using the product, are null & void legally speaking. Primarily because there's no way to say "no" before unboxing the product. It's okay to ASK for permissions afterwards, if user can decline. But if such permissions are required to use the device normally, then the proper course of action is decline, if product then fails to do its job, take it back to store as broken & demand money back (no, coupons won't do!). Any seller refusing at that point would have a hard time avoiding legal repercussions should you decide to pursue it. That is: in countries with reasonable consumer protection laws (like EU).

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ikiris 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

You need to accept them to use most any of the apps though which is super sleazy

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Izikiel43 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Yeah, that's why I only agreed to the minimal terms needed to use the tv, everything else is unchecked

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Scaled 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Seems kind of outrageous you had to agree to any terms, even minimal ones. TVs existed for many decades without needing terms.

	▲	HPsquared 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yeah you'd think they should allow a "dumb TV mode" where you agree to nothing.

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buzer 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

https://youtu.be/6IFVTcM28KA?t=1370

They at least use a pattern where you need to accept terms of use & privacy policy when you download an app. Same screen has option to accept other agreements like ACR. However by default "select all" option is highlighted so people will often click that.

Slightly earlier on video they state that certain ad related things got turned on automatically during software updates.

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dietr1ch 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I bet it's inadvertently enabled if you want to watch Netflix within 5 minutes of powering on the TV and rush through its setup

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functionmouse 7 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

it turns on when you agree to the 197 page arbitration agreement

source: i made it up

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pluc 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Could just be enabled with a simple update post-unboxing to make it compliant with that statement. Off by default but enabled as soon as it connects.

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layer8 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Why don’t you read LG’s actual statement, which states that it “requires separate explicit user opt-in consent and can be disabled at any time through the TV settings.”