US smart TV and streaming devices and TV operating systems maker Roku has changed its terms of service related to dispute resolution process – and has reportedly decided to lock out devices until their owners consent to the new rules.
Judging by reports, based on information users have been posting on forums and social media, Roku is not above playing some long-since established “user interface” games to get customers to do what they want.
Customers still have some ownership and control over their hardware – but the company is making them jump through a lot of hoops to exercise it.
What this is about is some user reporting that after a recent Roku update, their restarted device popped up a “welcome screen” informing of the updated ToS, allowing people to read them, but also apparently – only to “agree.”
Many angry users are saying that there was no option to refuse and in any case there seems to be instances of those who fail to “agree” having their devices locked.
Perhaps because Roku is known for being inexpensive, the mainstream tech press is quoting one user who “threatened” to send back all the devices they own – indignant that this kind of behavior suggests people don’t, after all, own the hardware they pay for.
(But it would be interesting to see how many are willing to “send back” their Apple devices when the giants pull tricks in the same vein.)
It now turns out that it’s possible to disagree with the updated ToS – but only once you have pressed the “agree” button. And, the “opt-out” has to come in writing. Specifically, in the form of an actual mailed letter to Roku General Counsel over in California.
However, that apparently still doesn’t mean that customers will be able to continue using the product.
Roku is also making sure the deadlines are short before users become “opted-in” possibly without knowing it, and certainly automatically.
The new ToS gives them 30 days after “first becoming subject” (reports say that would have been Feb. 20) to the new arbitration rules to disagree. In any case, it seems to be Roku’s way or the highway.
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