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Belkin shows tech firms getting too comfortable with bricking customers' stuff

arstechnica.com

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Re: Belkin shows tech firms getting too comfortable with bricking customers' stuff

#31

Post by Gigachad »

eddythompson80 wrote: post #22
thomassmith65 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd rather a law mandating that all devices include an 'offline' option for any hardware features that could conceivably support one. I don't want to create an account for my toaster, nor have my lightbulb send updates to an analytics server, nor have my washing machine cease to function when my wifi goes down. A ban on products tying hardware features to an internet connection would fix all those problems in additio…

I think the problem with this argument is that this is rarely the case. 99% of the time (including incident) they are not requiring an account for your toaster, or lightbulbs or your washing machine ceasing to function when your wifi goes off. The issue is that you have a washing machine that you bought with a feature that you can watch the inside of the machine while it's running over wifi from anywhere in the world…

The last projector I bought would not function until I signed in to a Google account.

Re: Belkin shows tech firms getting too comfortable with bricking customers' stuff

#32

Post by JonChesterfield »

I've got Sonos' least smart speaker. No microphone.

Can't stream to it, can't connect to it at all since they trashed the app, said app is mandatory. It's a doorstop, living on as a reminder that I should have rejected it the moment it refused to run without a phone attached.

Re: Belkin shows tech firms getting too comfortable with bricking customers' stuff

#33

Post by Gigachad »

AndrewDucker wrote: post #15

This is why I'm buying "smart" things only if they either work fine without the internet or if they are part of a standard. My washing machine tells me when it's done, and that's handy, but if it goes away I can still wash clothes. My smart bulbs work with anything that supports Thread/Matter.

It’s often impossible to tell before you purchase if connecting it to the internet is optional or not.

Re: Belkin shows tech firms getting too comfortable with bricking customers' stuff

#34

Post by Rebelgecko »

quantified wrote: post #29
supportengineer wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rules out any vehicle for sale in the US today with a built-in cellular connection.

I haven't bought for a long time, are these required to run the car? Or is it just prohibitively obscure to disable it (smash the antenna or connect it to ground, for example).

Probably not intended to be required, but some implementations are buggy. IIRC when 2g was killed off some Subarus had a problem where they'd keep trying and failing to connect to a 2G tower until the battery died

Re: Belkin shows tech firms getting too comfortable with bricking customers' stuff

#35

Post by Dylan16807 »

sofixa wrote: post #16
kmerfeld wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its less bad that they offered refunds, but why would it that make it ok? If you buy a car, and the company lights it on fire and then offers you a refund is that ok? You'll still have the burnt husk if you choose not to take the refund They broke something after they sold it

It's hard to take this comparison seriously because Rocket League is a (mostly) online game for which an active connection to active servers (and thus a cost to the developer). Also, there is no burnt husk. It's like you paying to get lifetime access to a club, the club closing and reimbursing you.

> It's hard to take this comparison seriously because Rocket League is a (mostly) online game for which an active connection to active servers (and thus a cost to the developer).

This is a different situation, but if this was the stop killing games initiative, the answer would be that when you shut down the game you release the server software.

> Also, there is no burnt husk.

The burnt husk is the program on your computer that opens to the menu and then falls over unable to play. That's what you're left with if you don't take the refund.

> It's like you paying to get lifetime access to a club, the club closing and reimbursing you.

That makes it sound like they merely shut down a rocket league hosting service and someone else could provide the same service. They arranged it so they're the only possible way to play rocket league, even though the game runs on my computer using my resources.

Re: Belkin shows tech firms getting too comfortable with bricking customers' stuff

#36

Post by tlavoie »

eddythompson80 wrote: post #22
thomassmith65 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd rather a law mandating that all devices include an 'offline' option for any hardware features that could conceivably support one. I don't want to create an account for my toaster, nor have my lightbulb send updates to an analytics server, nor have my washing machine cease to function when my wifi goes down. A ban on products tying hardware features to an internet connection would fix all those problems in additio…

I think the problem with this argument is that this is rarely the case. 99% of the time (including incident) they are not requiring an account for your toaster, or lightbulbs or your washing machine ceasing to function when your wifi goes off. The issue is that you have a washing machine that you bought with a feature that you can watch the inside of the machine while it's running over wifi from anywhere in the world…

One word: Juicero

Re: Belkin shows tech firms getting too comfortable with bricking customers' stuff

#37

Post by hyperman1 »

eddythompson80 wrote: post #22
thomassmith65 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd rather a law mandating that all devices include an 'offline' option for any hardware features that could conceivably support one. I don't want to create an account for my toaster, nor have my lightbulb send updates to an analytics server, nor have my washing machine cease to function when my wifi goes down. A ban on products tying hardware features to an internet connection would fix all those problems in additio…

I think the problem with this argument is that this is rarely the case. 99% of the time (including incident) they are not requiring an account for your toaster, or lightbulbs or your washing machine ceasing to function when your wifi goes off. The issue is that you have a washing machine that you bought with a feature that you can watch the inside of the machine while it's running over wifi from anywhere in the world…

My Bosh ebike display can't set the clock unless I make an account with theminstall tje app, and agree to a huge, incomprehensible legal thing. It is a lousy time keeper, loosing 20 minutes over a year.

It will display a zillion fancy useless things to me, but my speed and the time are the only things I care about. I installed a speedometer next to it, which costs €10, looks ridiculous, and works.

Re: Belkin shows tech firms getting too comfortable with bricking customers' stuff

#38

Post by greatgib »

altairprime wrote: post #30
greatgib wrote: post #3

I'm not against manufacturer stopping support for their Internet Of Shits devices, but there should be a law making it mandatory for them to release source code, protocol specs and whatever is needed so that a man of the craft could be able to do what is necessary to continue using the product that he bought.

In lieu of a law, a class action against Bellingham that publicly states “we will settle for $1 in exchange for you publishing all protocol docs, device firmware source code, and any private keys used to authenticate firmware installed for these devices, so that competitors can pick up where Belkin left off” would absolutely hold their feet to the fire on this.

Sadly in most countries we don't have "class action".

Re: Belkin shows tech firms getting too comfortable with bricking customers' stuff

#39

Post by [deleted] »

quantified wrote: post #29
supportengineer wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rules out any vehicle for sale in the US today with a built-in cellular connection.

I haven't bought for a long time, are these required to run the car? Or is it just prohibitively obscure to disable it (smash the antenna or connect it to ground, for example).

[deleted]

Re: Belkin shows tech firms getting too comfortable with bricking customers' stuff

#40

Post by [deleted] »

eddythompson80 wrote: post #22
thomassmith65 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd rather a law mandating that all devices include an 'offline' option for any hardware features that could conceivably support one. I don't want to create an account for my toaster, nor have my lightbulb send updates to an analytics server, nor have my washing machine cease to function when my wifi goes down. A ban on products tying hardware features to an internet connection would fix all those problems in additio…

I think the problem with this argument is that this is rarely the case. 99% of the time (including incident) they are not requiring an account for your toaster, or lightbulbs or your washing machine ceasing to function when your wifi goes off. The issue is that you have a washing machine that you bought with a feature that you can watch the inside of the machine while it's running over wifi from anywhere in the world…

[deleted]
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