SAN FRANCISCO: Tech giant Sony is reportedly planning to release a surveillance application on smart TVs and streaming devices that will block sideloaded piracy applications.
The tech giant has filed a new patent application for blocking piracy applications on smart TVs and streaming devices. This is likely for Android TV, as the company uses the platform for smart TVs, reports AndroidAuthority.
According to the company, system-level “monitoring” applications include block lists of known pirated network resources such as URLs and IP addresses, thus identifying third-party applications.
Once identified, monitoring applications are expected to block the execution of third-party applications and throttle them to degrade the experience or pause content at irregular intervals.
However, since it’s just a patent, it’s unclear if this anti-piracy feature will actually roll out on Sony devices on the market.
It also raises many questions, such as whether this monitoring software is consuming too much system resources and slowing down Android TV.
–IANS