Accept Roku’s New Individual Arbitration Terms Or Else!

Aren’t You Glad You Don’t Depend On Meta To Be Able To Read This?

Roku owners in the US are being greeted with a choice when they fire up their TV or HDMI adapters today.  They can either accept the new terms of service Roku just pushed out, or they can shut their devices off.  The pop up which appears cannot be suppressed, you can only agree to it and until you do your device is unusable.  It doesn’t matter if you are watching cable or any other source which doesn’t involve Roku in any way, without accepting the agreement your device might as well be bricked.

The problem is not necessarily with the terms, which make it even more clear that you are forced to give up any legal recourse in a dispute with Roku and have to accept arbitration; though that has it’s own issues.  The problem is that Roku is preventing you from using a device you paid for and own, at least in theory.  In practice this means your physical TV is actually a service, and one which Roku can cancel at any time.  If you completely disconnect your TV from the internet before turning it on and never connect it again you should be able to avoid Roku blocking you from using your HDMI inputs, but that defeats the whole purpose of having a TV capable of streaming.

The only other recourse is to send a physical letter to Roku, with proof of purchase and details on your account and device, which has to be sent within 30 days of you first seeing the pop up.  Of course, to ensure you are properly exempted you should probably avoid clicking accept, which means you can’t use your device until you hear back from Roku.

Wonder if there’s a sale on Chromecast devices somewhere?