Originally published at: FTC urged to stop companies ruining hardware you already bought
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There needs to be some kind of comprehensive legislation passed that reaffirms ownership rights of the things that we buy. And it needs to be broad enough to protect consumers against corporations saying, “Well…actually…you just bought a license. You didn’t buy the product.” Buying a license to software, fine. But there should be no such thing as buying a license to hardware or any physical object, or even to the software inherent to the hardware. If it’s a lease, it needs to be clearly identified as a lease, not a purchase. Otherwise, if you purchase it, you own it, which means you can modify it, repair it, resell it, or use it forever, without the company being able to remotely brick it.
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“If you have questions about the additional fee, please speak to one of our customer service representatives, who will be happy to explain our new policy to you.”
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Indeed. At the rate the automakers are going, I’m never going to buy a brand new car ever again- I’m going to find me a late 80’s or early 90’s vehicle and restore it just so I don’t have to worry about such stupid things as a subscription for heated seats (BMW) or ads playing on the infotainment center as fed from the manufacturer (ford) and just plain spying one me (… ALL of them.)
I actually do have a rant sitting on my home PC regarding my “ideal” new (to me) vehicle, and it’s pretty radical.
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I have an immersion cooker from Anova bought a long time ago. Didnt’ get much use for years started using it now and they’re like moving forward you will need a subscription to continue using all the functionality. Like wtf? no, no I won’t.
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The only way they should be able to alter the deal after purchase is if they offer you a 100% money back option - at original MSRP, no proof of purchase necessary.
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Exactly. There’s nothing inherently wrong with renting or leasing, but companies should not be able to advertise that option as “selling” you something. But of course the purveyors of digital serfdom want to eliminate ownership entirely, so that we can never own things.
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Oh no - they’re coming down so hard on Peleton and Snoo (?).
Call me when you’re ready to hold Apple’s feet to the fire for bricking old phones so that you buy a new one.
Call me when you’re ready to tell the printer folks that we can use any crappy TEMU ink we can find.
Call me when I can buy a video game that works without paying extra for DLC.
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I dunno, my original iPhone SE is still doing fine as a backup phone and video cam. Yes, I upgraded past that because I wanted new features, but for the basic stuff it’s still working fine. I’ve never had an old phone “bricked” by Apple, even the original 3GS I recycled when I upgraded to the SE. Phones have definitely been left behind and no longer supported for further upgrades, but that is not the same as “bricking” them.
Do you have a specific, documented, example of that happening? I’d definitely like to see it.
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I think the signatories of the letter - among them iFixit, EFF, various repair cafes - would be the first to decry Apple, were they actually bricking devices, and I doubt any of them would defend the practice of DRM in printers.
In fact, the letter urges the FTC to Protect “adversarial interoperability.”, which would include tools and methods to use third party ink.
As for games, most games will run without any DLC, but maybe you mean DRM? In that case, take a look at itch.io, gog.com, and also Humble Bundle.
Among other things the letter is calling on the FTC to for setting norms around providing tools and methods that enable reuse if software support ends. So it appears, they have that covered.
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I think that the poster does mean DLC, and in general they’re conflating “I am not getting enough for my money” (which could absolutely be argued as true) with “companies are deliberately breaking working stuff” which, other than printers (coughHPcough) is not true.
I would be happy to be proven wrong, and any company that deliberately removes playability from a game with an update, or an example of Apple breaking phones with an update, would 100% be met with the appropriate scorn and derision from me. I just don’t know of any example for Apple. There very well could be one for games, as I don’t play many computer games.
Big claims need equivalent-sized documentation from trusted sources.
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Of course this is happening, lots of devices are no longer working simply because they require online access - not for their intended use, but still - and the vendor has simply decided to no longer run the services required for that.
That is one reason why that letter has been written in the first place.
That is happening for games as well, often because the DRM is no longer supported, or because other online services are now defunct.
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… It’s not that.
It’s more of a practical hybrid EV with ease of repair, privacy, and having physical buttons and knobs instead of putting all the controls on a single point of failure- i.e., the gods-thrice-damned tablet everyone is insisting on putting into the vehicles.
Screed posted. Comments on that entry are screened, you can reply here (preferred) or there, if you dare.
(edit the second: I’ll be rewriting the screed for legibility tonight, because DW’s post edit decided to eat all the tabs. ::sobs:: )
(Edit the last: That’s as good as it’s gonna get unless I dump it somewhere that parses HTML 1.0 correctly. :: wanders off to empty a rum bottle :: )
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Cory Doctorow named this process Enshittification. His collection of shorter works called Radicalized discusses it very well.
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I really hope my current hardware (which is already “old”) makes it a few decades more.
(“hardware” meaning every items in my household which need electricity)
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