Google loses Sonos patent case, starts stripping functionality from speakers
Jan 2022, Ars Technica
From the comment section:
Considering the update is going to come from Google, encrypted, and the devices basically need to be able to phone home to Google to be worth a damn in the first place, there's likely nothing you can do to avoid the update and continue getting any use out of them (username Erifnomi).
The future is now -- you can buy a physical product, and think you own it, but the product doesn't work without the software inside.
Success -- there is no longer any such thing as ownership, at least not by consumers.
You don't believe me? BMW's car seat heaters aren't activated without a subscription. The heating elements are there, but the on-button doesn't belong to you. (Ars Technica cleared this up a bit, since it's apparently not what it sounds like, although it is more confusing than it probably should be.)
Surely my eyeballs must belong to me, right? Right? Once again, you, the proverbial consumer, are a sucker (not you, but the proverbial you), and I repeat -- nothing belongs to you.
Products, all products, are not meant to be used, they are meant to be purchased, and that is all. Have you ever wondered why it's possible for you to spend $25 on a pair of fancy scissors, which come in a skin-tight impenetrable package, which requires such force to open it (and which would be so much easier if you had I don't know a pair of scissors) that you damage the product in the process of trying to remove it from its package..? How about a $250 piece of furniture? Same. Surely a $2,500 refrigerator manufacturer would not commit such a heinous crime against their own consumers? But that's missing the point, because the refrigerator was never meant to be used by you, only purchased by you. After that, the manufacturer could care less what happens. (Unless of course they can extract data from you via their product, in which case they will care a lot). Registration and warranties? You must be new here, please register with your phone number before continuing.
Mass. lawmakers want to tweak connected car “right to repair” law
Jan 2022, Ars Technica
Massachusetts had "right to repair" laws since 2013, but now they're trying to update those laws for the digital age -- the new law would require carmakers explain what data gets taken from your car and sent elsewhere.
(Now would be a good time to remember one of the "laws of data collection" from Erik Larson's The Naked Consumer - data will always be used for purposes it was not intended for.)
Luckily we won't even have to fight about it, since some carmakers are already deactivating the telematics in the car regardless (thanks!).
Sidenote:
Ford is recalling 40k 2021 Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs and 100k 2020 - 2022 Corsair, Escape and Maverick hybrids because they could spontaneously combust while parked. They ask you to park "outside and away from structures" until they figure out what's wrong. (?!) Got it. [engadget link, July 2022]
Post Script:
“Open the pod bay doors, HAL.”
"I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that."
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