To receive the free TV, Telly users must submit detailed demographic info (such as age, gender and address), as well as purchasing behaviors, brand preferences and viewing habits, and they must agree to let their data be used for serving targeted ads. Telly’s TVs include a sensor that detects how many people are in front of the screen at any given moment.
So what’s the catch? Telly users must agree to several conditions under the company’s terms of service. If someone doesn’t abide by the TOS, Telly reserves the right to demand the TV be shipped back — otherwise, it will charge up to $1,000 to the credit card associated with a given account.
Among the Telly TV requirements: You must “use the product as the primary television in your household”; you must keep the TV connected to the internet at all times; and you are not allowed to use any ad-blocking software. In addition, users may not make “physical modifications to the product or attach peripheral devices to the product not expressly approved by Telly,” the company says in its terms of service. “Any attempt to open the product’s enclosure will be deemed an unauthorized modification.”
Why don’t we just invite big brother right into our living rooms, eh?
Also, I guess you need approval to connect an Xbox, Playstation, or set-top box? What about my htpc?
That’s a weird mix between 15 million merits and 1984. Holy shit. Makes me feel kinda uneasy
If I’m blocking ads with e.g. a Pi Hole, does that violate this? In that case I’m not running ad blocking software on the unit itself. Can they realistically dictate what people do outside of the product?
Edit: and for that matter, if my internet goes out but I still use my TV, am I then liable for my ISP’s outage?
So basically, you can “buy” one of these for $1000.
$249 for an Insignia 55” 4k tv at best buy right now. Come on people, sell some plasma, don’t buy contribute to this kind of thing.
“The telescreen in 1984 was a device that could be dimmed, but it could not be shut off Completely.” We keep getting closer and closer.
free-pc beat them to the punch by two decades.
This business model has been tried before. It doesn’t really work.
This is the bad place
This is the most dystopian thing I’ve seen recently.
Yeah a free TV but it has ads. The fucking humanity. Imagine being so privileged you can’t see the value in this.
And privacy invading camera and microphone so they can spy on you!
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When I was younger… at least I got hi
Anyway, yeah teevee aint worse it, jfc
Made me think of the TVs in Idiocracy.
In reality, Jackass may as well have been called “Ow my balls!”
or maybe even just “Ass”
I hate this idea, but I’d really like to get my hands on one of those second screens to play around with.
The fact that some people will ultimately go for this makes me sick. Not that the company doesn’t also make me sick, but come on. So many examples out there where voting with a wallet should shut stupid shit down, and boom! It sticks around.
Ribbit
We already had this with Movie Pass. Ads can only support so much. Facebook and Google work with scale. They can’t sell enough TVs for this to make a profit.
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Well that’s a glimpse into a horrifying hellscape.
This will get funny once they try to ship it to Germany, because you’re legally allowed to do pretty much everything with your device - as long as it’s legally yours.
Jesus Christ. Reading that article is terrifying. Is this the future we’re doomed with? Do people just not care?
Bro if I was still broke af I would see this as a win, even if it is a little Black Mirror-esque.
*edit nm this shit is creepy I’d rather fix a tv I found on the side of the road than use this thing.
A little??
Okay I read the article and it’s way more dystopian than a free tv in exchange for ads. This thing is pretty creepy.
I didn’t realize it has like a camera counting the viewers and their participation, and that you had to use it exclusively as your main tv, and that you can’t even put stuff in front of the ad screen.
Jesus Christ.
