In the US, consumer groups have called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to take action against “software tying”, which renders devices unusable when software updates stop coming.
Your devices that were working fine and had no problems whatsoever, are broken or their software is “broken” as soon as the software support ends.swollen“, you have witnessed that it has become unusable. Sometimes it is annoying because the features of the devices require a subscription system. This application “software tethering” or “software binding” It is named after the USA consumer groups raised the flag of rebellion against this practice.
A coalition of consumer protection and waste prevention groups, Federal Trade Commissioncalled for action to address “software coupling,” the practice of tying hardware functionality to external software. These groups include major groups in the country, including Consumer Reports, iFixIt, US PIRG, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the Center for Economic Justice and Californians Against Waste.
Big companies are under fire
In an open letter published on the subject, Like Google Many companies, including large and established companies, have ended support and made existing services fee-based. Consumer Reports said From 22 major smart home appliance manufacturers revealed that only three of them stated that they would provide cybersecurity and software updates for a certain period of time.
In the letter “We expect the problem to get worse over time as more companies create ‘smart’ products that connect to the internet or are app-controlled,” while suggestions were also presented to the FTC. These suggestions were as follows:
- For companies products minimum support period to require a guarantee and to clearly state this period on the product packaging.
- Companies need to ensure that products continue to operate even when the internet connection is down or when related software updates stop will retain its basic functionality make sure
- For reuse after software support ends tools and methods encourage
- Competitors or third parties with the ability to replace old devices “adversarial interoperability” to protect
- Manufacturers in product design longevity to educate them on how to build
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Source :
https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/5/24236237/ftc-software-tethering-letter-consumer-reports-ifixit