Roku's Patent for Injecting Ads Over HDMI Sparks Outrage
Description
This image is a screenshot of a tweet from user Patrick Klepek (@patrickklepek) discussing a controversial Roku patent. The tweet, on a black background, reads: 'Well, this is incredibly gross: Roku has filed a patent that'd allow them to display ads through your HDMI connection, trying to detect if you've paused, say, your Xbox.' Below the text is a high-resolution, close-up photograph of a gold-plated HDMI cable connector on a white background. A banner at the bottom of this image reads, 'Roku explores taking over HDMI feeds with ads.' The meme highlights a significant and concerning trend in tech where companies seek to monetize user experiences in increasingly invasive ways. For experienced engineers, this isn't just about another ad; it's about a fundamental violation of hardware and protocol boundaries. The idea of one device manipulating the signal of another, unrelated device via a standard like HDMI represents a major overreach with potential implications for security, interoperability, and user trust
Comments
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I'm looking forward to the bug where the ad injection fails, corrupts the EDID handshake, and bricks my monitor. That's the kind of disruptive innovation I expect from the smart TV industry
HDMI might soon stand for “Here’s Dreadful Marketing Interstitials” - finally, a man-in-the-middle attack you have to pay for
Remember when we thought the worst thing about HDMI was handshake failures? Now we're debugging ad injection at the physical layer. Next they'll be patenting a way to show ads in our git commit messages when we pause to think
Ah yes, the logical next step in the enshittification pipeline: not content with owning the OS, the app, or the content - now they want to own the *cable*. Can't wait for the inevitable CVE when someone discovers Roku's HDMI man-in-the-middle can be exploited to inject arbitrary frames. At least when we warned about 'smart' devices becoming attack vectors, we didn't expect them to patent the attack surface first. This is what happens when product managers discover HDMI-CEC exists and think 'but what if we made it worse?'
CAP theorem for living‑room platforms: you can’t have privacy, pass‑through integrity, and ad revenue - pick two; Roku clearly optimized for availability of ads when you hit pause
When adtech starts negotiating the HDMI handshake, CEC becomes Corporate Enforced Commerce - overlayAds() on pause, and the only standards‑compliant opt‑out is unplug()
Roku's HDMI patent: the hardware MITM attack where your Xbox pause becomes their ad endpoint
This is a bit late news Comment deleted
c'mon google already added an ads module to Android Open Source Project Comment deleted
But discontinued a proper SMS and music player app Comment deleted
Use samsung there it all persists Comment deleted
That's not part of AOSP Comment deleted
Well, if its open source then just write your own. Otherwise f** aosp Comment deleted
Lineage OS team has made their versions of those apps that follow material you 3 UI & theming, work reliably etc. If you need smth like this they're really good Comment deleted
Thanks I use samsung and am very happy Comment deleted
The proper sms app is TrueCaller. Comment deleted
Tf is Roku? Comment deleted
Same question Comment deleted
A set-top box like Apple TV or Kodi Comment deleted
Mostly, yes, but also mostly better than other androids (not considering prices) Comment deleted
As new as iphone 4 antenna problems "you are holding it wrong" Comment deleted
Same😄 Comment deleted
I am not sure that is possible tho. Pause screens are very different, I think only way to do it is for game to notify Xbox system and Xbox system notify HDMI hardware with a specific event. Comment deleted
HDMI already has pirate recognition system Comment deleted
Display port it is Comment deleted
Yeah objectively better. Free, and its everywhere. Your laptops display is most likely eDP too Comment deleted