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Telly starts shipping its free ad-supported 55-inch TVs
(www.theverge.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
realistically, is there anything stopping me from ripping it apart and using one of those screen driver modules you can buy off ebay to control it and essentially turn it into a big computer monitor?
There's something like a $1000 fine if you're not using it in the approved manner.
Not a fine. That comes from the government. A contract penalty. That they'd likely have to take you to court to get you to pay. Which would be a fun expense for them.
You'd have to try it to find out. I'd like to think they were smart enough to brick this thing if it doesn't call home every so often or maybe it has a unique controller? Maybe you're really badass and can make it happen. They could always try to come at you for...$550 I guess? I think that's what their fine print says.
edit: correction
They probably still are the owners of the device and would make you pay for a new one right when they discover that you're not generating revenue anymore.