Samsung allegedly inserts ads into locally stored/played movies
This article claims that Samsung smart TVs will insert advertisements when watching locally stored movies. I'd like to make some snide remarks about it, but to be honest, I'm speechless.
Samsung Smart TVs Stuffing In Pop-Up Ads
A number of owners of Samsung’s smart TVs are reporting this week that their TV sets started to interrupt their movie viewing with Pepsi ads, which seem to be dynamically inserted into third-party content.
Reports for the unwelcome ad interruption first surfaced on a Subreddit dedicated to Plex, the media center app that is available on a variety of connected devices, including Samsung smart TVs. Plex users typically use the app to stream local content from their computer or a network-attached storage drive to their TV, which is why many were very surprised to see an online video ad being inserted into their videos. A Plex spokesperson assured me that the company has nothing to do with the ad in question.
However, it looks like the Pepsi ad isn’t just making an appearance within Plex. Subscribers of Australia’s Foxtel TV service are reporting that streams watched through the Foxtel app on Samsung TVs have been interrupted by the same commercial.
http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-tv-pop-up-ads-2014-1?IR=T
https://gigaom.com/2015/02/10/samsung-tvs-start-inserting-ads-into-your-movies/
http://community.foxtel.com.au/t5/Technical-Support/Foxtel-on-Samsung-Smart-TV-plays-Pepsi-ad-after-15-minutes-WTF/m-p/44149
http://community.foxtel.com.au/t5/Foxtel-Play/Ads-in-the-middle-of-Foxtel-Play-streaming/m-p/44116#M2032
(Score: 1) by tnt118 on Thursday February 12 2015, @03:18AM
Just posted the same thing in the other smart TV story, but I believe I read that this has already been fixed. Samsung claimed it was a bug, and regardless if it was that or public shame I believe it has stopped.
Sorry I don't have a link on me at the moment.
I think I like it here.
(Score: 2, Informative) by anubi on Thursday February 12 2015, @03:28AM
Sounds like this one... [soylentnews.org]
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 5, Insightful) by frojack on Thursday February 12 2015, @03:51AM
Bug my ass.
The fact that they HAVE that capability reveals their ultimate motive for smart tvs in the first place.
The bug was that it was unleashed during program times instead of just replacing other advertisements.
Why does this capability exist at all?
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 12 2015, @04:27AM
It exists because Samsung et al believes they can entice enough ignoramuses or mere faddish morons into buying them to turn a profit.
(Score: 4, Informative) by sigma on Thursday February 12 2015, @08:42AM
Why does this capability exist at all?
It was originally developed as part of a deal with Yahoo to provide additional opt-in content that was advertising-supported. It was initially called Yahoo Broadcast Interactivity and has since been renamed Yahoo Smart Info. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahoo!_Connected_TV [wikipedia.org]
In fact, this bug is old news, and started with Samsung's SmartHub. It looks like the software was re-used in the TVs with bugs intact.
Samsung has been working with consumers and with strategic partners since 2011 to explore and develop more interactive smartTV features that will allow consumers the choice to experience a new generation of home entertainment. These new interactive experiences are offered on an “opt-in” basis via the Samsung SmartHub. We are working with Yahoo to create an opt-in screen prompt specific to their service as soon as possible. In the meantime, users can opt out of the Yahoo experience by swiping up on their touch remote to highlight the check box and then clicking to uncheck it. To opt-out of Yahoo Broadcast Interactivity, Exit Smart Hub first, press Menu on your Samsung Remote and scroll to Smart Hub > Terms & Policy > Yahoo Privacy Policy. Scroll to “I disagree with the Yahoo Privacy Notice.” and you can toggle the option on to opt-out.
http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-tv-pop-up-ads-2014-1 [businessinsider.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 12 2015, @03:07PM
No, no, no!!!
You don't understand, at all!
Yet again Frojack is right. Something he personally dislikes is deliberate evil conniving, it's never just a stupid careless fuckup. Evidence, context, nuance be damned! It is black and white, period!
(Score: 3, Funny) by sjames on Thursday February 12 2015, @07:12PM
Bug my ass.
I'm sure they would if they could.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by jmorris on Thursday February 12 2015, @03:36AM
So why is anyone shocked? Everything else is stuffed to the brim with advertising already. The Google Play store is essentially useless now unless you like ads in everything along with in-app purchase buttons waiting for a kid to push while using Mom's phone as a pacifier. Your cable box has been stuffing in ads on the guide data along with the cable co inserted ads in the programming which they drop on top of some of the ads from the network. You put a DVD or BD in the drive and what do you get? Ads. More often than not, unskippable ones. Turn to the Internet and drown in ads, blinking ads, full motion video ads, flash ads, pop up ads, pop under ads, floater ads, ad bars. Every fracking time Flashplayer updates (what now, every other day?) you have to remember to opt out of a toolbar/popup ad generator. Most tablets sold seem to be sold on an ad supported model on some level, either as a tethered endpoint to a walled garden ecosystem of ads and paid content or some other model other than outright selling hardware. The phone you carry everywhere is basically a lojack that the telcos are now mining for useful data to target ads to you more effectively... and you pay them for the privilege. Any day now the lock screen will have an ad on it and probably the app launcher screen as well.
So now the TV itself will float ads atop what you watch. Nobody protested before, why would Samsung think there would be any problem quietly slipping in a few ads of their own? We should have said NO years ago. Kinda late now if you ask me.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by arslan on Thursday February 12 2015, @04:00AM
I'm shocked because at least a lot of Google's stuff is free and they have to make money somehow. If I have to pay for a Samsung TV and they try to milk me further by forcing ads, then its unacceptable.
(Score: 5, Informative) by mhajicek on Thursday February 12 2015, @04:16AM
We didn't stop paying for cable tv when it started having ads, and being ad free was originally one of the main selling points.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 5, Insightful) by quadrox on Thursday February 12 2015, @10:18AM
We didn't stop paying for cable tv when it started having ads
And there's your problem right there!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by tibman on Thursday February 12 2015, @02:21PM
I was born into this world of ads and didn't know any better for a long time. Haven't had cable for years. I do use Netflix, Amazon, and other ad free content though. My kids (if they ever exist) won't be born into a world of ads like i was.
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 2) by JeanCroix on Thursday February 12 2015, @03:51PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 12 2015, @07:14AM
I never see ads so you must be doing something wrong. Apparently a lot of things...
Don't use google, don't use flashplayer. And stop renting DVD/BD.
Show some spine.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 12 2015, @08:56AM
Don't use google, don't use flashplayer. And stop renting DVD/BD.
C'mon! We gotta keep renting DVDs, cause they are so easy to rip! Um, what is BD? Is that something to do with 50 shades? And what is up with the 50 Shades teddy bears? Sado-masochism is mainline now? Holey crap, that makes Samsung inserting ads into your orifices against your will look positively, well, black and white.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Thursday February 12 2015, @09:21PM
If you don't go online with it, or play DVDs or Blu-Rays, and cable and over-the-air both have ads in them, what are you watching?
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by fleg on Thursday February 12 2015, @07:31AM
so if we dont complain immediately we cant complain at all?
yeah, i think not.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by NickFortune on Thursday February 12 2015, @01:52PM
Is anyone shocked?
Personally I' m more disappointed. Disappointed, relieved and resolved.
I'm disappointed because I quite liked Samsung, and it's always a shame when this sort of thing happens. Relieved because "smart" TVs were just appearing last time I needed to buy one, and I resisted the temptation to buy one. And resolved, because now I'm not going to buy one.
In particular, I'm not going to buy one from Samsung. Not that I'm expecting my little boycott to affect Samsung's bottom line in any way they'll ever notice, but that's not really the point, is it?
But shocked? Not that I've noticed, no.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 12 2015, @03:11PM
> And resolved, because now I'm not going to buy one.
Good luck with that.
You'll have to settle for small, shitty tvs.
For all practical purposes, there are no TV's in the 55" and up range that are not "smart" TVs.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 12 2015, @04:46PM
Wait, so everything 54" and smaller is a "small, shitty" tv? Wow. the 30" tv I have is plenty big enough, I don't need something that takes up the whole wall.
(Score: 2) by Tramii on Thursday February 12 2015, @05:58PM
Good luck with that.
You'll have to settle for small, shitty tvs.
For all practical purposes, there are no TV's in the 55" and up range that are not "smart" TVs.
That's not 100% true. You can still buy *monitors* with HDMI inputs that will effectively be non-smart TVs.
As an example: http://www.amazon.com/Dell-210-ADHX-55-0-Inch-LED-Lit-Monitor/dp/B00NAKT2J2/ [amazon.com]
(Score: 1) by NickFortune on Thursday February 12 2015, @06:11PM
Why, thank you. You are most kind.
Meh, I've got 38 inches. It'll be a while yet before I start feeling anxious about my TV-peen.
Not currently. Let's see how the market develops. Maybe some of us will exercise this purchasing power that the OP was talking about. If worst comes to worst and a day dawns when I have to buy a smart TV ... well, I'm technical enough that I doubt my TV is going to be phoning home, whatever happens.
And the one I buy still won't be made by Samsung. Just saying.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by SuperCharlie on Thursday February 12 2015, @04:12AM
I posted a thread a month or so ago about personal cloud server (as in my server on my network) recommendations. I finally decided to try one.. and no its not OSS but it is free.. I gave Tonido (tonido.com) a try and have been terribly happy with the ease of setup, the performance across all my devices (Win/Linux/Android) and the entire ecosystem. I was up and running in about 20 minutes. So instead of having a smart TV I use a PC and a large monitor and 1/2 decent sound system for my "TV" or my laptop, or my tablet, or my phone, from anywhere I have internet. It streams local wifi when it can, does vid and music, file storage, indexing..yada.. and has a nice clean interface. I didnt think I had use for "Smart" TV and now I am quite sure of it.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by wantkitteh on Thursday February 12 2015, @04:22AM
When I was looking through last Black Friday's discounted TVs, I deliberately chose one without any smart features to avoid exactly this kind of interference, intentional or otherwise. My TV is purely a display device, not an attack vector or intrusive surveillance/advertising opportunity.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by twistedcubic on Thursday February 12 2015, @04:35AM
Now I better understand why Richard Stallman is obsessed with making every part of these devices free, down to the firmware. They really are trying to control us!
(Score: 4, Informative) by mtrycz on Thursday February 12 2015, @11:37AM
That was the plan all along.
That's what makes me cringe when people keep calling Jobs a "visionary".
RMS might not be the most pleasant person in the world, but he's seen it coming 20 years ago.
In capitalist America, ads view YOU!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by ItisBE on Thursday February 12 2015, @05:02PM
(Score: 2) by mtrycz on Friday February 13 2015, @10:03AM
Cassandra, is that you?
In capitalist America, ads view YOU!
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Thursday February 12 2015, @05:05PM
I dare anyone to read his "Right to Read" short story / warning / screed and say the guy isn't a visionary. Insanely expensive textbooks delivered on e-readers, licensed to a single user and leased for the school term only instead of sold. All that is missing is the enforcement hammer of expelling students for allowing an another person to use their e-reader and we are there... and the publishers WANT it already. Batpoop crazy socialist too? Oh yes but that is just the default position anyone who spends much time in places like MIT adopt automatically. In the field where he is most competent and thought the most about it, he does see to the root of the problem.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 12 2015, @05:59AM
protest/boycott Pepsi, not Samsung. Follow the $ downhill.
(Score: 2) by quacking duck on Thursday February 12 2015, @03:16PM
Wrong attitude.
Don't blame a company for advertising through means made available to them.
*DO* blame a company, i.e. Samsung in this case, that intentionally built in this ability to be used by (and get revenue from) advertisers in the first place.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Thursday February 12 2015, @07:21PM
Blame both.
If I hire a hit man, would you advocate not blaming me, just him?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday February 13 2015, @08:51PM
There is a significant difference, advertising is legal, killing isn't. Perhaps a better analogy would be paying someone for waste disposal, if the waste ended up dumped in a river instead of being properly processed then is it fair to blame the person who paid for the waste disposal for it being dumped in a river. The answer would then depend on whether it would be reasonable to expect whoever was paid for the waste disposal to do a proper job.
And in this case, not being privy to details of any agreement they had I think it would be reasonable to assume that Pepsi would expect the advertising they paid for to be handled more appropriately than Samsung actually did. Unless further detail surface that indicate Pepsi knew the advertising would be placed in the manner it was I would withhold blame from them.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Thursday February 12 2015, @08:16PM
Blame is useless. Don't bother blaming either. Do stop patronizing both as a matter of self defense.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 12 2015, @07:07AM
The accident wasn't forcing ads into their customers' own content. The accident was doing so while customers still have a choice.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 12 2015, @01:06PM
The real bug was buying a smart tv in the first place. A samsung smart tv at that.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday February 12 2015, @02:26PM
Who watches TV anymore? I don't even have one in my house, having gotten rid of them all 6 years ago, after cutting the cable 4 years before that. They're a single-use device that takes up a heck of a lot of room and winds up costing you a great deal in money and lost time. Note, that does not mean I don't watch shows. I do. But I watch them when I want to, on the device I want, wherever I want. It's merely another application I run alongside other applications on my computing platforms.
The family and I occasionally spend weekends at the inlaws' house on Long Island. They still have old-fashioned TVs. Every six months I turn one on to take the measure of current TV-world, and snap it off after 5 minutes in disgust. The cable boxes are incredibly slooooooooooooow to respond to user input. Scrolling through channels in the guide would test the patience of a zen monk. 75% of the offering is pay-per-view channels, and there doesn't seem to be a way, or at least an easy way, to change the settings to only show the channels you get in your package. So, OK, once you sort of figure out the channel range that you can watch, it's only reality programs or movies that you had already seen 50 times before the 80's were even done. So let's say you find one you've only seen 5 times, and you put it on for background while you're puttering around on a project--and hello! 20 minutes of commercials per hour that pump up the volume so high that it rattles the light fixtures and glassware.
And all that is for a *premium* cable package on a snazzy flatscreen TV.
I cannot imagine what insanity would drive a person to want to "improve" on that wonderful experience with a SmartTV that spies on you and adds in even more advertising. Maybe it's the TV (content and hardware) industry's attempt to squeeze the last drops of money out of a dying medium, but it's sad to be them because their main audience is still Baby Boomers who are drifting off into dotage and fixed incomes and not buying anything anyway. Millenials already don't have TVs and certainly don't have cable, and they're the demo in the range that advertisers pay top dollar for because they're still forming brand attachments.
Me, as GenX, well, I had Napster and its successors and I never looked back.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 12 2015, @02:48PM
I do. I have to pay for cable anyway (it's part of my flat's rent; oh, and in addition there's the mandatory public TV fee which now in Germany is also no longer dependent on having a TV), and I still own a TV (good old analogue CRT, definitely no spying capability), and there are some shows which are worth watching, so I don't see any reason not to watch TV.
If those few gems are worth the cable price is a different question; however since I'm forced to pay whether I watch or not, that question doesn't arise.
(Score: 2) by JeanCroix on Thursday February 12 2015, @04:00PM
A TV isn't necessarily a single-use device - you forgot gaming. I keep mine as an HD display for the PS3 and Wii. I don't use it to "watch TV" at all. My movie and show watching has dropped to virtually zero, and I don't miss them at all.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Thursday February 12 2015, @04:15PM
OK, good point. I don't play console games, but I can't argue with you on that one.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 12 2015, @06:02PM
A: Don't worry. They'll tell you.