Dan Roku had legal issues in Mexico, due to pirates introducing private channels on the Roku platform. Roku addressed this, after the Mexican court ordered all it devices removed from store shelves. This continues to happen on the platform, with the understanding now that the device warns against any and all piracy and the use of certain private channels. Again, this nothing to do with the use of any VPN activity on the Roku device. All other streaming devices allow for a browser and the use of a VPN service. Roku loses customers on these two factors, specially the VPN aspect of it.
Yes, that's right it was Mexico. But it's very similar to VPN use to bypass regional restrictions. The end result is someone accessing content illegally, so again it's a valid response for a company attempting to avoid such things.
Then if every company Dan took that kind of attitude towards all VPNs, they wouldn’t exist, and more to the point, why then does companies like Apple and Microsoft allow for VPN use on their devices? After all, that is also a possible use for fraud, cyber bulling, and yes, stealing of legal programming. I live in Canada, and also have a home down south in the U.S., and really like to take my PAID programming with me from Canada to U.s. and vice versa. Why should I not be able to, given that I paid for it legally. And all because these greedy companies just want to GEO block their programming.
Every company is free to determine their liability in issues like this. You are welcome to use that technology yourself for the reasons you state. I think you're morally correct that you're within the law. But my guess is that somewhere in the fine print of the terms of service for your content providers it states it's not authorized to be used outside the given country.
You can do what you want with your equipment and services. I'm not personally saying you're wrong, as it makes perfect sense for your use case. But because of the users that want to violate the restrictions put in place, you can't fault a company (in this case Roku) for making every effort to not permit their devices from being used in that way. I don't see them as greedy, and that's where I'll end this conversation, as I doubt either of us will change the mind of the other. Go in peace, and have a Merry Christmas!
You as well Dan. Good to discuss with you what we have. Take care.