ARTWORK DETAILS
David Aston
The Smart TV
Text, readymade vintage TV magnifier
17 H x 34 W x 7 D cm
2021
FURTHER DETAILS
Nearly all TVs in the market today are smart. Their smartness seems to come not from their increased technical features, but from their contractual design and ability to harvest and broadcast your personal data to their manufacturers and endless list of partners.
The smart TV is an expression of my frustration at a TV market without choice. A market doubling down on data harvesting for revenue without opt out. A generation X lament for a time when TVs were simple, non predatory machines built for entertainment not surveillance.
The words are printed in the fine print of digital contracts and mounted behind a large pink vintage TV magnifier. The use of the magnifier is both a homage to TV heritage and a parody of the level of magnification required to view and scrutinise the legal complexity engineered into smart contracts. Contracts which claim authority over the right to harvest and share behavioural data from smart devices within the sanctuary of our homes. Contracts designed for the online world but increasing used in all on and offline domains.
Its pink lens reflects the rose coloured glass through which we appear to view this convenient but predatory form of technological and legal determinism.
“The “smart home” and its “internet of things” are the canvas upon which the new markets in future behaviour inscribe their presence and assert their demands in our most-intimate spaces”
THE SMART TV
I bought a new TV
it is not like the old one
it is smart
it is not connected to an aerial, it’s connected to the internet
it allows us to access a world of entertainment
it has no buttons, not even an off switch
it is smart
it is no longer just a receiver, it sends signals both ways
it has a microphone, so it can listen to us
it has a camera, so it can watch us
it is connected
we are connected
it’s very smart
it was easy to set up
it asked for my personal details
it asked for my consent to share data with the people who own the TV
…and their affiliates
…and the people who own the TV channels
…and their 3rd party partners
they have so many partners
all very connected and smart
it showed me a seven page legal contract
I didn’t have to read it, I could click on the big red button to instinctively accept
that is smart
but I read it out of curiosity
it told me I can decide to not give consent
but if you do it becomes less smart
very un-smart in fact
so un-smart that it no longer works as a TV
that’s not very smart
it makes more sense to click the big red button and make it smart
its smartness got me thinking
how its definition of smart differed from my own
how I have yet to hear any anything particularly smart or intellectual from it
how having a TV with a microphone or camera was a bit strange
how the set-up had an imbalance of power which made me uneasy
a TV that forces me to give away my rights to privacy and claimed it’s right to share my data with anyone it wants
but mostly how we ended up with TVs which have fucking data privacy ransom clauses
ransom clauses which renders the TV useless unless you give it the right to tell the world what you watch, say and do
…maybe that’s the smart bit
I guess if you make money from TV data then that is smart
that is very very very smart
not so smart for the owners though
the poor users who just wanted to watch TV and not pay for the privilege of a trojan horse to surveil them in the comfort of their own home
and can no longer find a TV that isn’t smart
I miss the good old TV
it wasn’t smart or slim lined
in fact it had a charming naivety
a physicality
it had buttons
buttons which controlled what signals came in
no signals went out
sure, it didn’t have many channels
it wasn’t particularly connected
it had no microphone or camera
it had no way of sharing data
no data consent
no complex terms and conditions
it had no affiliates, partners or 3rd parties
it had no other interests, legitimate or otherwise
it did not care what my name was, where I lived, what the TV line was called, what I watched, when I watched it, what I looked like, what I said, what my other TVs and devices were called and did, or what my family were called, watched or purchased
It wasn’t interested in any of that
it just sat patiently in the corner of the room, waiting for us to switch it on to entertain us
ah, the good old dumb TV
END