Jackson soon discovered that Amazon suspended his account because a Black delivery driver who’d come to his house the previous day had reported hearing racist remarks from his video doorbell. In a brief email sent to Jackson at 3 a.m., the company explained how it unilaterally placed all of his linked devices and services on hold as it commenced an internal investigation.

The accusations baffled Jackson. He and his family are Black. When he reviewed the doorbell’s footage, he saw that nobody was home at the time of the delivery. At a loss for what could have prompted the accusation of racism, he suspected the driver had misinterpreted the doorbell’s automated response: “Excuse me, can I help you?”

  • Wodge@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    It’s increasingly difficult to get a TV nowadays that isn’t “smart”.

      • brygphilomena@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        That’s easier said than done. I’ve had TVs that wouldn’t work unless TOS were accepted and I’ve had TVs scan for open networks.

        I’m at the point of opening TVs to disconnect the wireless antennas.

        • 520@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Remember that if a TV is connecting to random WiFi spots, it is breaking hacking laws if it logs into someone else’s unsecured WiFi where you don’t have permission to join. Permission, not security measures like passwords, is the key part that defines the legality or otherwise of what you are doing

      • PeleSpirit@lemmy.worldOP
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        1 year ago

        I see what you’re saying but you give up Netflix, Hulu, and screencasting. It’s an actual sacrifice.

        • essteeyou@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          You can connect other devices to your TV, like anything from a Nintendo Switch to an entire laptop/PC. Obviously they have their own privacy issues, but at least on a real computer you have some agency.

            • AbidanYre@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              It doesn’t have to be a monitor. The computer doesn’t care what the other end of the cable calls itself.

            • EyesInTheBoat@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Sometimes occasionally but they’re probably never going to be cheap. Too hard/expensive to manufacture which is why folks like Samsung keep trying really hard with quantum dot LED panels.

              That being said, I regret nothing about purchasing my LG C9 OLED TV a couple years ago. Works fantastic, looks fantastic and I pretty much never use the built in UI for anything by going to a Nvidia Shield for my content/streaming needs. I think the LG C series does an excellent job and it occasionally goes on sale during holidays/Black Friday.

            • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              You missed the point but also accidentally found it. The point you missed, as others have replied, is that a TV and a monitor both work as PC displays.

              But the point you accidentally found is that monitors are pretty much TVs without the smart tv bs added in. They are priced like TVs would be if they weren’t making money from them in other ways, like getting paid for preinstalled apps and selling harvested data.

              • PeleSpirit@lemmy.worldOP
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                1 year ago

                I didn’t miss that point, I really like LG channels because it introduces me to stuff I wouldn’t normally see. I had a dumb TV up until right before the pandemic and I love the smart TV features but you really sign your life away with their cotracts. I put on live cams or videos of nature while I work directly from the TV while working on my computer. I go offline a lot when I’m working on something that needs to be copyrighted yet, so I couldn’t screencast it unless I got an old computer or something to do that. I think I have unique circumstances and I’m lazy and cheap, tbh.

                • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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                  1 year ago

                  Oh I see what you mean. Yes, you can use things like Chromecast to use your PC on your TV, but you can also directly connect your PC to your TV via HDMI or DisplayPort (though the first one is a lot more common on TVs). You can keep it offline in that case.

                  Some PCs and laptops might lack the HDMI port, but it’s pretty common. If you’re using a discrete GPU, you most likely have one. And if you don’t have one, you can get USB dongles for it.

                  • PeleSpirit@lemmy.worldOP
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                    1 year ago

                    I’ve kind of already signed my life away to LG and it’s 3rd party people but the next time I need a TV, I’ll definitely look at that. I’m saving this on the hopes I won’t need it for a few years. Thanks for explaining it.

        • Ashyr@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          There’s cheap devices you can get to connect to the expensive device to do that for you. That way the expensive device never takes a turn for the worse.

        • 520@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Nvidia Shield. Or another Android TV set top box. You’re welcome.

          • TurboDiesel@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            I don’t recommend any Android TV box anymore that isn’t from a big brand, which pretty much leaves the Shield and Chromecast with Google TV. All those no-name Amazon boxes are lousy with spyware.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              But it doesn’t rely on any sort of cloud services, so unlike the guy in the article’s problems, you don’t have that if Google decides you’re an undesirable. Your Chromecast will continue to function. It’s rare for a device these days.

            • AnonStoleMyPants@sopuli.xyz
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              1 year ago

              Sure, not denying it. But the point was that you can not connect the TV into the Internet and still use netflix etc. You stream the content through chromecast when you need to.

          • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            especially since you can get what you want to watch via alternative means.

            presumably.

            its been to long for me so I do not know the waves like I once did

            • shortwavesurfer@monero.town
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              1 year ago

              I am not honestly sure. It has been over a decade since i consumed TV, shows, etc in any serious quantity.

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I have two TVs. One is an small 720p set we keep in the bedroom with a connected Chromecast, and the other is a 1080p “smart” TV, but they made the mistake of building a Chromecast into it, so we literally never use the “smart” features and just cast from a phone or computer.

      I don’t care if that’s “low resolution.” I grew up with CRT TVs. 1080p is terrific as far as I’m concerned.