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iSnow | on: FTC Pushed to Crack Down on Companies That Ruin Hardware via Software Updates
I mean, I fully agree, but how would any jurisdiction even enforce this? If the manufacturer goes out of business, their cloud service will be shut down 90% of the time (exception is if some entity buys the bankrupt company to restructure it). No one has any incentive to keep a service running that makes no money.

And I believe (not totally sure though) that IP is always part of the bankruptcy assets so probably insolvent companies are not even allowed to just open-source their stuff and allow configuration of the backend so users could set up community-servers and keep things running.

Completely different are cases where companies continue to live but lock features behind new paywalls like Happiest Baby with their Snoo bassinet, invent fees to hinder re-sale like Peloton or cripple working hardware like Sonos did.

Those make me unreasonably mad, not just because I already have too many subscriptions for things that improve my QoL but add up, but also because I do care about my CO2 and environmental footprint. I do not want to trash working devices just because they are now 2 years old. Companies should untether them if they think further cloud support is no longer viable and at the very least should support them for 7-10y.

jjk166 | parent | next
Make it a legal requirement that if they brick the devices they owe the purchaser a refund for the value of any parts of the hardware that are compromised, minus some depreciation schedule. Then they have an incentive to keep running that service even if it's not currently making them any money. If they go out of business, that obligation is the same as any other on the books - assets will be sold off to cover the debts as best as possible, or some other agreement reached. Patching some code so that the system isn't bricked when the server shuts down is almost certainly cheaper than giving everyone their money back.
throwway120385 | parent
Force the manufacturer to release their source code for any server-side component of any product. Or API specifications and any HAB keys needed to boot new firmware on the device.