[kadoban]

> it's because you're _paying_ to install a backdoor that will rip and tear everything on your network it can.

I mean, maybe. More likely imo you're paying for the absolute cheapest hardware and fastest never-updated software someone could throw together and make _any_ profit on. Someone probably had 100k shitty little chips sitting in a warehouse and this was a way to do something with them.

The outcome is really the same, it's just the steps to get there are more human nature.

[kube-system]

Even many TVs with "reputable" western brand names, on the shelf at major US retailers, are often sold at a loss on the hardware and the difference is made up by collecting advertising data.

https://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2024/11/18/tv-companies-sell...

> you just have to look at the finances of Vizio or Roku to see they’re selling TVs at somewhere between -3 and -7% margin

[BloodyIron]

Wow those negative margins are WILD!

[BloodyIron]

At a price tag of $5/ea the cost of just advertising and distribution exceeds the cost of the product itself. There is zero room for profit. The business model is installing back doors to the "clients" and stealing money, information, and anything else from them. Consider that even the cost of the included remote is a huge part of the actual hardware cost, and nobody is going to buy something like this without a remote.