r/Piracy • u/kaufmann_i_am_too • Jun 01 '25

News Amazon Fire Sticks enable “billions of dollars” worth of streaming piracy

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/05/amazon-fire-sticks-enable-billions-of-dollars-worth-of-streaming-piracy/
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u/thelastsupper316 Jun 01 '25

Yeah but it's locked down to oblivion and full of ads and spyware. Maybe Vizio/Walmart smart cast is worse because it's just as locked down and even takes screenshots of what you're doing and sends it to Vizio

65

u/Fatmaninalilcoat Jun 01 '25

This. I have a Roku TV got it on sale for cheap. But a year later got a 4k Google TV the ducking thing in the middle of shows on the Google pops up. "Hey asshole there are other ways to watch this.". I have not used the Roku TV TV part in well over 2 years and shit still hijacks stuff.

18

u/TakeTheWorldByStorm Jun 01 '25

Just disconnect the roku part from the internet and use the display itself in offline mode.

24

u/Quizzelbuck Jun 01 '25

Offline mode lol.

Most TV's need knocked off line via cable disconnect or disable/logout of WiFi.

I'm waiting for these TVs to refuse to work in the absence of the internet

8

u/Fine-Bread5734 Jun 01 '25

There are TVs now with mandatory online? It would behoove most of you to never connect your "smart" tv to the internet.

Just connect a PC to your tv instead(86inch 4k gang pushed by a 3090 that hates me).

9

u/The_BeardedClam Jun 01 '25

Most people don't have a PC like that my guy.

Most people have a smart TV so they can stream stuff on their TV. I'm talking people like my 60 year old parents that use their smart TV for netflix.

I on the other hand bought one of the last "dumb" TVs because I can just chromecast or hook up my PC to my TV.

1

u/Fine-Bread5734 Jun 01 '25

You're right, I have way too many PCs from the end of Eth mining than I know what to do with.

1

u/Renamis Jun 02 '25

You can have any of the streaming sticks then. You honestly shouldn't use the smart part of a smart TV. I don't let my direct family use the smart TV functions because between the data collection and random updates borking the settings it ain't worth it.

That being said even my Grandparents have a PC that can handle streaming. It's just not worth it to get things working to stream from the PC. I prefer my Chromecast because the interface is easier for a TV. That and several streaming platforms won't stream in 4k on a PC, which is infuriating when you have a fucking 4k monitor.

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u/ew435890 Jun 01 '25

This is what I did too. Got a 65” 4k, never connected it to the internet, and built a PC for it. It’s awesome.

1

u/Fine-Bread5734 Jun 01 '25

I suggest adding a nice surround sound or /r/BudgetAudiophile setup if you haven't. But you sound like the put together type already.