Amazon Bricks Long-Standing Fire TV Apps With New Update (arstechnica.com) 64
Amazon has issued an update to Fire TV streaming devices and televisions that has broken apps that let users bypass the Fire OS home screen. From a report: The tech giant claims that its latest Fire OS update is about security but has refused to detail any potential security concerns. Users and app developers have reported that numerous apps that used to work with Fire TV devices for years have suddenly stopped working. As first reported by AFTVnews, the update has made apps unable to establish local Android Debug Bridge (ADB) connections and execute ADB commands with Fire TV devices.
The update, Fire OS 7.6.6.9, affects several Fire OS-based TVs, including models from TCL, Toshiba, Hisense, and Amazon's Fire TV Omni QLED Series. Other devices running the update include Amazon's first Fire TV Stick 4K Max, the third-generation Fire TV Stick, as well as the third and second-generation Fire TV Cubes and the Fire TV Stick Lite. A code excerpt shared with AFTVnews by what the publication described as an "affected app developer," which you can view here, shows a line of code indicating that Fire TVs would not be allowed to make ADB connections with a local device or app. As pointed out by AFTVnews, such apps have been used by Fire TV modders for abilities like clearing installed apps' cache and using a different home screen than the Fire OS default.
The update, Fire OS 7.6.6.9, affects several Fire OS-based TVs, including models from TCL, Toshiba, Hisense, and Amazon's Fire TV Omni QLED Series. Other devices running the update include Amazon's first Fire TV Stick 4K Max, the third-generation Fire TV Stick, as well as the third and second-generation Fire TV Cubes and the Fire TV Stick Lite. A code excerpt shared with AFTVnews by what the publication described as an "affected app developer," which you can view here, shows a line of code indicating that Fire TVs would not be allowed to make ADB connections with a local device or app. As pointed out by AFTVnews, such apps have been used by Fire TV modders for abilities like clearing installed apps' cache and using a different home screen than the Fire OS default.
Right to repair (Score:4, Insightful)
If I own the hardware, I should be able to do whatever I want with it. Full stop. If your software prevents that, it's tantamount to theft.
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Nice try, but companies are not allowed to brick your car just because the engine control chip uses software.
Re: Right to repair (Score:2)
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I bought a "smart tv" that ran whatever apps I cared to load, then they broke it because "security". If your car manufacturer sent a software update to your car and say disabled the ability to drive faster than 25mph or only on approved roads because "security", but hey it still "drives", right? They aren't stopping you from driving.
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Nobody is bricking TVs, so your analogy is flawed.
That depends on your definition of "bricked". If suddenly I can no longer use my hardware in the manner I like and to which I have become accustomed, because of a service supplier's actions, then it has been damaged and therefore rendered defective by said supplier. It may be usable, for some definitions of 'usable' which will vary from owner to owner, but it's still been made defective.
That said, anybody who buys hardware which can be force-'updated' by the manufacturer doesn't get much sympathy from me. W
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companies are not allowed to brick your car
Run out of DEF [wikipedia.org] and see what happens.
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Re: Right to repair (Score:2)
If you can't figure out the difference between a consumable part of a product needing replenishment
Funny. My truck seems to run just fine when it runs out of windshield washer fluid.
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BTW: You went from diesel exhaust fluid to windshield wiper fluid. One is definitely required by law to run the engine, the other is a nicety that isn't. That's after you jumped from companies bricking your car. Have fun moving your goal posts by yourself.
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If their software interferes with my use of my hardware, I should at the very least be able to remove their software. This isn't complicated.
That's needlessly restrictive. You should be able to remove their software for any reason, or no reason at all. It's your hardware, not theirs. They should have no control at all over what you choose to do with it.
What makes you think they have any right to hardware you own? What possible justification could there be? It's beyond reason.
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If you bought the device without knowing its limitations regarding using your own software, that's on you. Choose wisely next time.
Re:Right to repair (Score:4, Insightful)
If you're trying to circumvent the operation of their software
Why is this a problem? If they're software is interfering with my use of my hardware, I should be able to remove it. If the current software interferes with that, as I've already explained, that's tantamount to theft.
If you bought the device without knowing its limitations regarding using your own software, that's on you.
Bullshit. That's an abusive practice that should be outlawed. Hence the title of my post. You don't get to say what I do with my hardware.
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Hey, you can do whatever you want with the hardware, no one is stopping you. Perhaps use it as a doorstop.
Perhaps I could use your home as my kindling. After all, being able to use it for it's intended purpose isn't a concern for you right? /s
Condescending remark gets a condescending answer.
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Bullshit.
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The limitation didn't exist when I bought my TV. It's a bait and switch at the software level.
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You own the hardware, do what you want with it. Amazon owns the software, so they get to do what they want with it. Seems equitably fair.
I think it is totally fair. For you and people like you.
For everyone else it is not.
Selling a microwave oven then licensing the code that makes it run is a deception and legal sophistry that no civilized nation would view as anything other than a bad joke. Same with selling a digital clock and the licensing the firmware.
If you sell a hardware device by saying it can do
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For you folks, the whole thing is just justice, and I will fully support the ability of corporations to strip you of whatever rights you have left. They are wasted on you,
I was with you until this last bit, which I suspect is the reason you were down-modded. I understand your anger - to be fair, I probably came pretty close to it in an earlier comment I made here. But cheering on the corporations that behave like this is NEVER something we want to do be doing.
People who believe as you and I do need to be persuading others to help overturn the laws - and lack of them - that make this shit possible. Dismissing and shouting at those who don't fully get it undermines the cause.
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Except you agreed to it when you accepted the license you couldn't use the device without accepting.
You wanted the device more than you wanted the total control, and you made your choice.
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Amazon license is a turd wrapped in spinach (Score:2)
DISC: I do not own any Fire sticks or other such Amazon devices.
PLEASE SHARE this license you say previous poster accepted, and if you don't mind, highlight the part that says anything like what you posted it says.
What is SCARY: Apparently (googling for "fire stick license") there are times the stick is 100% unusable do to a potentially "expired" license. This makes the hardware one purchased useless until Amazon fixes their mothership back end etc. No bueno. https://help.screencloud.com/s... [screencloud.com]
E
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If you really believe that their license does not allow them to update the software at will, and block apps they don't allow without hacking, then, in all seriousness, you need a keeper for your own safety.
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Except you agreed to it
This should be interesting. Show me where, for any Amazon product, the purchaser agrees to give Amazon total control over the hardware they bought.
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The law disagrees with you.
I expect you're used to that.
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"Except you agreed to be a slave when you signed the contract of submission that you couldn't continue living without accepting.
You wanted to live more than you wanted the total control, and you made your choice."
Same shit, different day.
I own a Toshiba FireTV. Never will I buy one again (Score:2)
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Does anyone sell not-smart tvs? Not counting used or old/discontinued models.
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You can just get a smart tv and never connect it to the internet. That is what I do ...
For now. But it won't be long before you're unable to buy a TV that will continue to work, even as a monitor, in the absence of an internet connection. If you don't believe me, you need look no farther than HP printers to see where this is all going.
That's why we all need to push back harder. The entire corporate sector is doing its damnedest to force us all to rent everything and buy nothing. If we don't draw a line in the sand and stop this shit now, then soon we will only have two choices. The first will
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Also don't some smartTVs have cellular devices that can phone in your viewing habits even if you keep it firewalled?
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Best Buys
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/t... [bestbuy.com]
B&H Photo
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c... [bhphotovideo.com]
NewEgg
https://www.newegg.com/Commerc... [newegg.com]
These are new. You'll need to be more specific when you mean "old". Me, I'm happy to have a large flat-screen TV that doesn't spit commercials at me when I turn it on.
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Good to know. Some of these seem to be "business account exclusive". Does that mean you have to have a biz account to even buy the product?
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They are marketed as business displays and cost about triple.
But if people near you have open wifis that might be worth it.
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Interesting price differential. I'll keep that in mind for the future though, thanks.
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"Now I will only buy standard TVs with 3 HDMI ports. No more smart tvs."
You may have to buy a time machine first. Better budget accordingly.
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Ater [sic] an OS update.. bang..
Why would you allow OS updates to your TV at all? At this point we should expect that any "updates" are anti-consumer, and their main reason to exist is adds, tracking and basically any extra monetization of their captive audience they can think of.
I bought a Samsung TV a year or two ago, and never allowed any firmware updates; nor do I see any need for them. The TV isn't plugged in to the internet and doesn't have the wireless network's password. It wanted to connect to the mother ship for activation, but
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Why would you allow OS updates to your TV at all?... It wanted to connect to the mother ship for activation, but my TV installer activated it using his phone, so Samsung hasn't got any info about me - besides, I guess, my name, address, credit card number, maybe phone number, the TV model I bought, the date when I bought it and anything else they may have received from the store :( .
You've answered your own question there sport! Given your experience, do you really believe that near-future TV's won't absolutely require an internet connection to a) be usable to watch video and b) to continue to work?
Realistically speaking, it won't be very long before you have two choices. You'll be able to refuse an appliance's demand to connect to the internet, OR you'll be able to use it for its intended purpose. Short of hacking it - which may be rendered illegal via lobbying - there will be no thir
I don't get the mystery. (Score:2)
It's pretty clear that Amazon is trying to shut down efforts like the Kodi project and prevent people from accessing "illegal" content and sideloading other "unauthorized" apps. And also so they can get the metrics (viewing data, app use, Alexa purchases) from the regular Amazon software.
All the innocent wide-eyed reporting around the "what security issues?" is disingenuous at best.
Ah well.
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If they're forcing you to use their home-grown launcher, then I think it's more likely that they insist you get bombarded with pay-per-view shit. Apple makes similar claims about security that have nothing to do with security at all. Basically, the way these guys see it is that sure, you own the physical device, but you're in their theater and you'll eat their snacks.
Security bug fixed. Right? (Score:2)
Guessing this wasn't a published "feature" to begin with.
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A pretty standard Android feature. They just usually pretend it's not Android.
About what you should expect (Score:3)
Considering Amazon's general hostility to open source, and given how locked down the company's products generally are, is it any surprise they're doing this? They're also a mass media company now with Prime and their movie studios, and piracy is a direct threat to their revenue.
Kindle, their Fire tablets are all like this: extremely locked down and minimalistic with a "you use this to serve us" approach which funnels use of their cloud services. A lot of the devices are, despite their horrible hardware quality, loss leaders for the services they want to sell you.
How many people own a Kindle with a reoccurring Kindle Unlimited subscription which costs Amazon nothing? They make hundreds a year off of most Kindle sales, over the cost of the Kindle. They intend FireTV to be no different.
Not "Bricked" (Score:5, Insightful)
Bricking a device means making it literally no more useful than a brick with no possibility of customer repair. That's a long way from what's happening here so could we cut the sensationalism. I'm not saying that the situation isn't bad, but what's the headline going to be when they actually brick Fire devices with an upgrade?
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You're making the mistake that the title is supposed to be a snippet that accurately reflects the situation described in the article.
The purpose is clearly to predispose you to being angry, for the purpose of attracting your clicks. In other words, the title is, in fact, a good one. It's meeting the objective.
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No mistake; I'm entitled to demand good journalism and reject click-bait. Does having a sensationalist and incorrect title financially benefit the publication? Almost certainly. Is it in the public interest? No.
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I don't disagree with you at all. Merely pointing out that their goals might not align with yours. :)
Re: Not "Bricked" (Score:1)
I can't get past the improper used of "bricks" to care about whatever actually happened.
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Because it is dangerous to normalize taking away functionality of hardware through software limitation after the point of sale. There should be outrage every time some company is called out on it.
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So invent a scary word for "taking away functionality of hardware through software limitation after the point of sale". No; "bricking" is already taken. Or is it not also dangerous to normalise lying, or does the end justify the means?
Local ADB Connections (Score:3)
No Android phone allows local ADB bridge connections. Allowing that is a huge security issue.
If FireTV allowed this then it doesn't surprise me at all that they plugged the hole.
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No Android phone allows local ADB bridge connections. Allowing that is a huge security issue.
I'm not sure I understand what you're referring to here. ADB stands for Android Debug Bridge. I know that because I used it to connect my computer to my Samsung phone via USB so I could get of Google services and install LineageOS. I also use it to perform local backups. Is there some other kind of "ADB bridge connection" that I'm unfamiliar with?
Re: Local ADB Connections (Score:2)
Local ADB connections means you can connect to the phone itself, from itself, with ADB. Like open an ADB connection to Local host and perform actions.
Android does not allow this, because it would let apps perform various actions with the user being unaware, bypassing Androids permission system.
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No internet access (Score:3)
I don't give my FireTV (which I acquired unaware of the infernal software) access to the internet. I have a Roku box for apps (including Amazon Prime, which I'm dumping). Stuff like this story makes me happy to be so untrusting.
Haven't used Fire TV sticks in years... (Score:2)