Your TV Is Now a Computer, but Not in a Good Way (opens in new tab)

Putting aside my personal feelings about the spying that "Smart" TVs do on us...

The specific problem described in the article (a TV that won't work properly because of an app that you cannot uninstall), under Australian consumer laws this would not be a problem. I would be able to demand a fix, replacement or refund from the seller.

Of course, that doesn't help people in places with weak consumer laws such as the US.

In a more general sense, I believe it should be illegal for a manufacturer to remotely update firmware in a way that the purchaser is not able to downgrade to the exact configuration that it was at the time of purchase.

I wish our governments would actually work for the people.

Economists (at least the sane one) talk about market failure, which means when things being sold for a profit but those who buy them are coming out worse than they would be in a well-functioning market. And example would be where there is price-fixing.

Another type is information asymmetry, which is when the seller knows something the buyer would benefit from knowing but doesn't. An example would be some sells a car as running great but knows it is really a leamon.

What we have here as a case of blatant information asymmetry. Consumers think they are basically buying a TV set, but it is actually doing all sorts of things they have little or know awareness of. And there is an unspoken agreement among the TV set producers that they won't tell the consumers, much less offer them real alternatives.