Tech giant Sony is reportedly preparing to unveil a monitoring app for smart TVs and streaming devices that will prohibit sideloaded piracy applications.
According to AndroidAuthority, the tech giant has submitted a new patent application to restrict piracy software on smart TVs and streaming devices, which is likely for Android TV because the company uses this platform for its smart TVs.
The system-level “monitor” application, which the company claims will identify third-party apps, has a block list of known pirated network resources, including URLs and IP addresses.
After identifying the third-party programs, the monitor application is intended to prevent them from running, restrict them to deliver a degraded experience, or pause the content at irregular intervals.
However, because this is simply a patent, it is unclear whether this anti-piracy function would be implemented on commercial Sony products.
It also raises a number of concerns, such as whether this monitor software might demand too many system resources, causing Android TV to lag, the report said.
