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What's the incentive for these manufacturers to do this? Are they getting paid for the data (e.g. we'll pay you $100M to install spyware), or are they trying t

What's the incentive for these manufacturers to do this? Are they getting paid for the data (e.g. we'll pay you $100M to install spyware), or are they trying to be an ad platform, or is it simply analytics gone out of control?

autoexec 9d ago
They get to make money off of you for the rest of your life. They'll sell ads to companies, and they'll sell your data to anyone willing to pay enough for it.
- apt-apt-apt-apt 9d ago
  Unfortunately, considering that 80-90% of people simply don't think or care about this, I can see the incentive.
  - autoexec 9d ago
    I think that people just don't know about it. When directly confronted with it they react pretty strongly. Companies have done a very good job of hiding what they're doing from the public. They know people aren't going to read their 15,000 word EULA written in deceptively phrased legalese, and they wouldn't understand it if they read it anyway. Most Americans can't even read at a 6th grade level. People just have no idea what's being collected or what's being done with their data. If really you want to see how people feel about being surveilled there's plenty of videos online showing people freaking out at someone just taking photos/video in public. A ton of people are absolutely convinced that the law protects them from being recorded in public. They're not going to imagine that a "respectable" corporation would be allowed to do it to them in their own homes.
josefresco 9d ago
Because they make higher margins on their ad business, details here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IFVTcM28KA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IFVTcM28KA
- apt-apt-apt-apt 9d ago
  It showed VIZIO revenue numbers ($1B hardware sales at -0.8% profit margin, ~$500M ad revenue at 61% profit margin). Based on that, it seems to me that TVs are a one-time-sale commodity with low margins, while ads are continual revenue generators with high margins. This makes the incentive extremely clear.

autoexec 9d ago

They get to make money off of you for the rest of your life. They'll sell ads to companies, and they'll sell your data to anyone willing to pay enough for it.

apt-apt-apt-apt 9d ago
Unfortunately, considering that 80-90% of people simply don't think or care about this, I can see the incentive.
- autoexec 9d ago
  I think that people just don't know about it. When directly confronted with it they react pretty strongly. Companies have done a very good job of hiding what they're doing from the public. They know people aren't going to read their 15,000 word EULA written in deceptively phrased legalese, and they wouldn't understand it if they read it anyway. Most Americans can't even read at a 6th grade level. People just have no idea what's being collected or what's being done with their data. If really you want to see how people feel about being surveilled there's plenty of videos online showing people freaking out at someone just taking photos/video in public. A ton of people are absolutely convinced that the law protects them from being recorded in public. They're not going to imagine that a "respectable" corporation would be allowed to do it to them in their own homes.

josefresco 9d ago

Because they make higher margins on their ad business, details here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IFVTcM28KA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IFVTcM28KA

apt-apt-apt-apt 9d ago
It showed VIZIO revenue numbers ($1B hardware sales at -0.8% profit margin, ~$500M ad revenue at 61% profit margin). Based on that, it seems to me that TVs are a one-time-sale commodity with low margins, while ads are continual revenue generators with high margins. This makes the incentive extremely clear.