This is maybe a little paranoid but… i have a jellyfin server that i let some family members use. one of them intends to use an app for apple tv, which i think is swiftfin or something like that. i am a bit skeptical about smart-TVs and the data they phone home with, so i was wondering if there is any chance that i could be compromised due to the linux isos i host on jellyfin due to some sneaky smart-TV stuff?
First: compromised how?
Second: probably just being paranoid, Apple TV + open source apps are about as good as you’re going to get in terms of private viewing.
The Apple TV might report app usage stats to Apple, but unless the app (which it doesn’t) reports other telemetry that’s not really useful in terms of anything other than, well, seeing that someone uses an app that plays media from Jellyfin.
First: compromised how?
I dont want to be receiving dmca letters (or similar where i live). So I mean having access to what is being played (the names of the files would be a dead giveaway).
Let’s be real, it’s in those companies best interest that we never know even if they are seeing that. As soon as someone got a DMCA notice because their Roku told the government they pirated Deadpool, there would be a massive amount of damage control required.
true, good take
Also, Roku or whoever has no way of verifying you pirated it and aren’t just watching a blu-ray you owned and ripped to your jellyfin server
Should be fine; I’ve used swiftfin on iOS devices (iPad, iPhone, and Apple TV) for literal years and the copyright police haven’t shown up.
Ok thanks! The price of not really knowing how things work is apparently paranoia cries in technical illiteracy
Nothing wrong with asking a question, especially when you’re talking about devices that are notorious for sending every scrap of data they can gather to everywhere. (Looking at you, Roku.)
Interesting thought.
IANAL, but I understand that most successful prosecutions have been for /distributing/ copyright material, rather than /consuming/ it. I think that’s quite a big distinction, legally, and watching a dodgy recording is less clearly illegal in many countries and may be entirely legal - even if they could prove that filename = actual file.
Well i am concerned about it because i am distributing it. It is my server, someone else is using it on their apple tv
You’re not just being paranoid.
By my read, Roku just changed their terms of service (this year) to allow them to report back to their partners what I watch from other services and my home Network server.
So I don’t use Roku devices anymore, myself.
Kodi is the (most obvious) Raspberry Pi project that can do a decent job replacing Smart TV appliances.
That said, your smart TV, itself, is probably too lazy to include a 5G antenna to phone home. So you can probably just never give it Wifi credentials, and be fine.
If you’ve given it Wifi credentials, and didn’t read the terms of service, I can save you some time - if you didn’t buy it in the EU, it’s spying on you in nearly every imaginable way.
So i am not concerned about the way i consume the content, but i am sharing it with family and am concerned that the way they consume it can comromise me.
I.e. smart TV or apple TV phones home with “this person watched a file called The.Matrix.H264.PirateGroup.mkv from jellyfin.myserver.com”
I’m a little late to the party, but a fairly easy way to combat that fear is to install Tailscale (free) on your server and have them do the same on the AppleTV. It’s supported from version 17 I believe. It uses Wireguard to encrypt so your ISP won’t see squat.
I’m hosting a server for friends and family too and I refuse to open ports for it. It works super well and is fairly easy to setup.
AppleTV is about the safest experience you’re going to have unless you hook up a desktop to your TV which most people are not going to do. I’ve been using an AppleTV for years to watch all my Jellyfin content.
