Me, knowing cable TV is the seventh circle of hell, new it was some kind of trap. What kind, I did not know.

Last week, the company cut off the services they provided us until we called them to renew the service.

They left not too long ago unable to do anything because my uncle, who holds the contract, had to be present. He had to be present because this new service requires him to download and app and create an account to be able to access the new way the company is providing the service.

This was already sus. By now, I'm no stranger to enshittification.

Curious about how this strange little box works, I looked it up. Zapping TV is a subscription service has a rating of 3.2 on the PlayStore. On the data Safety section, it describes that data isn't encrypted in transit and data can't be deleted.

This may or may not be the app that my uncle has to install. I didn't ask the technicians. Really should have.

Then, I went to search their website. It bears the same logo so I assume it's the same company. The attached link leads to their privacy policy and it's riddled with hints of tracking technology and other anti-privacy measures. From tracking what is watched on the TV and for how long, it build a user profile used for suggesting content the viewer might like. It also shares that information with third parties which it does not list although it mentions Apple TV and Chromecast platforms by name.

All of these research tells me that this company wants to bring US-levels of enshittification to my humble and simple pastime of watching TV.

Unfortunately, ultimate whether we go ahead or not it's not my choice. I hope my uncle realizes how inconvenient this service will be for his elderly mother who does not know how to operate a smart TV and we have to turn it on for her. He did not want to get involved in this thing which he had already delegated to us.

I understand that from a privacy standpoint going ahead and installing this tracking technology on our TV is a terrible choice. But I understand this because I have spent so many hours reading and learning about privacy as part of the Indie Web. My uncle is not a technical person. Thankfully my dad and brother are, are also educated on enshittification trends and technology, listened to my findings.

If it were up to me, I would forego cable service and just keep the wifi. Oh, I forgot to mention. With this new way to deliver the service, the company is not increasing the bandwidth but the velocity. If my uncle goes ahead with the change, when everyone is connected to the wifi (couple of TVs, laptops, and mobile devices), it will definitely cause slower downloads.

This is just not a regression in the quality of service but also an increased risk on customer privacy. The company's push to push to optic fiber and add a barrier to access its services is nothing but an attempt to collect personal information and sell it to foreign companies and advertisers.

I was so right and I'm so mad. This sucks so much.