hardware – Techdirt (original) (raw)

Stories filed under: "hardware"

FTC Pushed To Crack Down On Companies That Ruin Hardware Via Software Updates Or Annoying Paywalls

from the you-don't-own-what-you-buy dept

We’ve noted for years how you no longer really own the things you buy. Whether it’s smart home hardware that becomes useless paperweights when the manufacturer implodes, or post-purchase firmware updates that actively make your device less useful, you simply never know if the product you bought yesterday will be the same product tomorrow.

Now a coalition of consumer groups, activists, and lawmakers are pushing the FTC to crack down on “smart” device manufacturers that suddenly pull support for products or make them less useful — either by simply removing features or hiding them behind annoying new subscription paywalls.

In a letter sent last week to key FTC officials, a coalition of seventeen different groups (including Consumer Reports, iFixit, and US PIRG) requested that the agency take aim at several commonplace anti-consumer practices, including “software tethering” (making hardware useless or less useful later via firmware update), or the act of suddenly locking key functionality behind subscriptions:

Both practices are examples of how companies are using software tethers in their devices to infringe on a consumer’s right to own the products they buy. While the FTC has taken some limited actions with regard to this issue, a lack of clarity and enforcement has led to an ecosystem where consumers cannot reliably count on the connected products they buy to last.

The letter cites numerous instances of consumer harms Techdirt has covered at length, ranging from Peloton’s recent decision to charge used bike owners a $95 fee for no coherent reason, to the “smart” baby bassinet maker that recently decided to paywall most of the device’s most popular features.

The letter correctly points out that this environment, where consumers are constantly shelling out significant money for devices that can be killed or rendered less useful (often without clear communications to end users), is resulting in a “death by a thousand cuts” for consumer rights. And, the groups note, it’s likely to only get worse without clear guidance and enforcement by the FTC.

The FTC has occasionally made inquiries in this space, but often only superficially. For example the FTC launched an investigation into Google’s decision to turn Revolv smart home hardware into useless crap but then took no substantive action and implemented no meaningful consumer reforms.

But the (intentionally) underfunded, understaffed, and endlessly embattled agency only has so many resources, and struggles to tackle even far more pressing issues like widespread monopolization or privacy violations. Still, some federal guidance and a few warnings would probably go a long way in a “smart” hardware sector that’s become a hot mess in the cloud computing age.

Filed Under: bricked, consumers, ftc, hardware, ownership, smart home, software, subscriptions

Appliance, Tractor, And Irrigation Companies Lobby Against Military ‘Right To Repair’ Reforms

from the fix-your-own-shit dept

Wed, Sep 4th 2024 05:30am - Karl Bode

Despite the best efforts of automakers and companies like Apple, states continue to push forward with popular “right to repair” reforms that make it easier and more affordable for consumers to repair tech they own.

While they vary in potency, New York, Oregon, California, Massachusetts, Colorado, Maine, and Minnesota have all now passed some flavor of right to repair laws. Colorado just got done passing its third such bill. The first two ensured that consumers had access to the parts, tools, and documentation they needed to repair agricultural equipment and powered wheelchairs.

The push has even started to expand into the military, and some appliance and tractor manufacturers aren’t happy about it. The fine folks at 404 Media obtained documents showcasing how both industries are lobbying hard against new legislation that could make it easier for the U.S. military to fix the equipment they buy.

As usual, baseless fearmongering is the name of the game, with both industries claiming that more affordable and easier repair would somehow hurt small companies, and might even pose security risks:

The letter argues that the legislation “would undermine the principle underpinning existing technical data rights statutes, which are designed to balance the government’s technical data needs against contractors’ need to protect sensitive proprietary and trade secret information.”

The claim that easier and more affordable repair poses some kind of unacceptable privacy and security risk is always the first one made by companies looking to lock down their lucrative repair monopolies. Apple for years falsely claimed such reforms would create a dangerous surge in nefarious hackers. Automakers claim such reforms will be a boon to sexual predators.

A 2021 bipartisan FTC report showcased how these claims are routinely false. In reality, right to repair reforms not only help make repair more affordable (a boon to military-funding taxpayers) but drive greater availability of manuals, parts, and tools, making tech safer.

In this case the lobbying and policy organizations trying to scuttle military right to repair reforms range from the “Institute of Makers of Explosives” and Aerospace Industries Association to the Irrigation Association, all of which are clearly getting nervous about the potential for even broader federal reforms.

Filed Under: appliances, hardware, legislation, military, reform, right to repair, tractors

Companies Are Simply Ignoring Many New State ‘Right To Repair’ Laws

from the fix-your-own-shit dept

Tue, Sep 3rd 2024 05:28am - Karl Bode

Last March Oregon became the seventh state to pass “right to repair” legislation making it easier, cheaper, and more convenient to repair technology you own. The bill’s passage came on the heels of legislation passed in Massachusetts (in 2012 and 2020), Colorado (in 2022 and 2023), New York (2023), Minnesota, Maine and California. All told, 30 states are considering such bills in 2024.

While the popular reforms are a nice example of U.S. consumer rights headed in the right direction, many of the bills (like New York’s) were watered down almost to the point of uselessness to appease larger tech companies. And in many states, companies simply aren’t complying because enforcement has been largely absent.

A recent report by PIRG examined 21 different mainstream tech devices subject to New York’s recently passed electronics Right to Repair law, then graded them “based on the quality and accessibility of repair manuals, spare parts, and other critical repair materials.” Most fared poorly in terms of easy access to parts and manuals, and New York’s done zero enforcement of its own law so far:

“_The New York Right to Repair Bill has had mixed success. It has gone a long way in pushing companies towards greater repair standards, but it has been surpassed by newer repair bills in other states like the recent passage in Oregon. In order for this bill to remain useful for the people of New York, it should be updated to bring it in line with newer repair standards, as well as provide greater enforcement to move companies towards full compliance in the future._“

NY’s lax enforcement is not particularly surprising, given that NY Governor Kathy Hochul went out of her way to make her state’s law as loophole-filled as possible.

In California, the state legislature recently passed SB-244, the Right to Repair Act, which only just took effect last July. The bill requires that appliance and electronics companies make repair manuals, parts, and tools widely available to consumers, repair shops, and service dealers. But companies in California also seem in no particular rush to come into compliance with the new state law:

“Even though the law’s been in effect for nearly two months now, a couple repair shop owners tell KSBY some manufacturers are not following it…[local independent repair shop owner Eric] Vanderlip told KSBY he reached out to Bose and Polk Audio for schematic diagrams and manuals for certain products, but neither would provide them.

KSBY then reached out to both companies and has not heard back.”

Cool.

Laws are, of course, only worth something if they’re meaningfully enforced, and so far there have not been many indications that major companies are rushing to comply with these new consumer right to repair protections, or that state officials are in any particular rush to make them. Granted many of these laws are new, and it’s going to take a few shots over the bows of major offenders to spark compliance.

The problem is many of these bills already carved out many of the more problematic industries and hardware, including agricultural hardware and medical gear manufacturers. It’s been amazing to see the progress activists have made with these reforms, but it would be a shame if such reforms with widespread bipartisan support wound up being predominantly performative.

Filed Under: california, consumers, drm, hardware, manuals, new york, reform, right to repair, state law, tools
Companies: bose, polk audio

Snoo ‘Smart’ Baby Bassinet Sees Key Features Paywalled, Loses Functionality If Bought Used

from the your-product-is-now-worse.-you're-welcome. dept

Tue, Aug 27th 2024 05:21am - Karl Bode

For many many years now we’ve noted how internet-connectivity (and greed) have changed the consumer equation sometimes for the worse, resulting in people no longer truly owning the things they buy. Expensive gadgets can become less useful (or bricked completely) in an instant due to an inconveniently timed merger, company closure, greed, or just rank executive incompetence.

Case in point: owners of the 1700Snoo“smart”babybassinet(acribwithspeakersthatcanrockandplaysoothingsoundsforyourbaby)weren’tkeentofindoutthatoverthesummerthecompanypaywalledmanyoftheSnoo’s“premiumfeatures”[behinda1700 Snoo “smart” baby bassinet (a crib with speakers that can rock and play soothing sounds for your baby) weren’t keen to find out that over the summer the company paywalled many of the Snoo’s “premium features” [behind a 1700Snoo“smart”babybassinet(acribwithspeakersthatcanrockandplaysoothingsoundsforyourbaby)weren’tkeentofindoutthatoverthesummerthecompanypaywalledmanyoftheSnoo’s“premiumfeatures”behinda20 monthly subscription fee tethered to the device’s smartphone app.

Customers who bought a Snoo from an “authorized” outlet before July 15, 2024, were able to get the premium features free for nine months. But if you bought the speaker used, your only option to get the device’s full array of features is to shell out an additional 20eachmonth—ontopofthe20 each month — on top of the 20eachmonth—ontopofthe600 to $1000 the devices sell for used.

Ars Technica notes that users are, needless to say, not enthused about the changes:

“Just saying. This is bullshit. The current owners and users of Snoo should have been grandfathered in and continue to have access to basic feature like motion lock (the one I use most) and future new accounts should get a clear notification that without paying 20/mothey’rejustbuyinga20/mo they’re just buying a 20/mothey’rejustbuyinga2,000 basket.

Time to review bomb their app.”

As a result, the company’s app has been receiving a beating on app stores, with users noting that not only are the changes terrible for customers, they weren’t communicated clearly. The Snoo parent company Happiest Baby Inc. is also taking a steady beating over at the Better Business Bureau.

Companies think they’re cleverly boosting revenues by paywalling features or penalizing used owners, but they’re just taking an axe to the foundations of previously popular brands, especially if they’re too greedy with monetization or don’t explain the changes with any coherence.

Of course it’s a problem that’s soaring among small and big companies alike; Amazon is also taking heat this week for removing a key feature of its Echo Show 8 — the ability to display digital photos — and replacing them with ads. “Smart” sous-vide machine maker Mellow has also been taking a beating the last month for suddenly making its device useless unless users downloaded an app and paid a monthly fee.

I suppose executives making these kinds of decisions think they’re cleverly monetizing existing sales in creative new ways, but they’re really just burning consumer trust to the ground. And it’s not clear how many stories like these you’ll have to see before execs figure out its a pointlessly destructive affair.

Filed Under: automation, baby bassinet, consumers, don't own what you buy, hardware, ownership, smart home, subscriptions
Companies: snoo

Report: Consumer Hardware Still Often Impossible To Repair Despite New State ‘Right To Repair’ Laws

from the fix-your-own-shit dept

Mon, Aug 5th 2024 05:26am - Karl Bode

There’s been significant progress, but many popular consumer electronics brands are still building hardware that’s often impossible to repair despite a flood in new state “right to repair” laws around the country. That’s at least the conclusion of this new report by the US Public Interest Research Group (PIRG).

PIRG examined 21 different mainstream tech devices subject to New York’s recently passed electronics Right to Repair law, then graded them “based on the quality and accessibility of repair manuals, spare parts, and other critical repair materials.”

They found decidedly mixed results, with nine of the devices earning As or Bs (including all of the smart phones), three products receiving Ds, and six popular mainstream devices earning Fs. The devices that fared poorly, like the HP Spectre Fold foldable laptop, the Canon EOS r100 camera, or the Apple Vision Pro and Meta Quest 3 VR headsets, usually did so because of a lack of spare parts or useful repair manuals.

New York’s Digital Fair Repair Act, passed in 2022, requires that tech manufacturers provide tools, manuals, and parts to ensure affordable, easy repair of consumer electronics. But as we noted at the time, tech industry lobbyists managed to convince NY Governor Kathy Hochul to water the bill down to the point of near-uselessness by including ample loopholes. PIRG says they’d like this addressed:

“The New York Right to Repair Bill has had mixed success. It has gone a long way in pushing companies towards greater repair standards, but it has been surpassed by newer repair bills in other states like the recent passage in Oregon. In order for this bill to remain useful for the people of New York, it should be updated to bring it in line with newer repair standards, as well as provide greater enforcement to move companies towards full compliance in the future.”

PIRG Senior Director Nathan Proctor told me there’s been no enforcement action taken by NY on the law despite numerous companies failing to comply. All told, the report notes that the cellphone sector has made significant strides in terms of repairability and providing easy access to repair manuals and replacement parts. That’s offset greatly by sectors like VR headsets and cameras, where repairability remains mostly a mess.

Oregon recently became the seventh state to pass “right to repair” legislation making it easier, cheaper, and more convenient to repair technology you own. The bill’s passage came on the heels of legislation passed in Massachusetts (in 2012 and 2020), Colorado (in 2022 and 2023), New York, Minnesota, Maine and California. All told, 30 states are considering such bills in 2024.

But such bills are routinely at risk of being watered down by lobbyists keen to exclude the most problematic sectors (like medical equipment, game consoles, or agricultural gear). And the bills are only useful if they’re actually enforced, which isn’t likely to be a top priority in many well-lobbied states.

Filed Under: consumers, hardware, independent repair, kathy hochul, repair, right to repair

$2,350 Amazon ‘Astro’ Business Robots To Become Pointless Paperweights 11 Months After Release

from the I'm-sorry-I-can-no-longer-do-that,-dave dept

Thu, Jul 11th 2024 01:14pm - Karl Bode

One of the common themes here at Techdirt over the last 20 years is how in the digital and internet-connected era, the very meaning of “ownership” and “property” has changed — often for the worse. It simply takes a merger or an ill-timed firmware update to render something you thought you owned — completely obsolete.

Case in point: last fall Amazon announced that it would be selling its Astro robot for use as a security guard for businesses. The robots, which can patrol up to a 5,000 square foot area, start at a price tag of 2,350,witha2,350, with a 2,350,witha180 per month subscription charge. But eleven months after the announcement, Amazon has announced that they’re shutting the effort down and bricking the robots.

The robots will simply stop working on September 15, and unfortunately can’t be repurposed in any way (Amazon is providing free recycling for your expensive and now completely pointless 2,350robot).Businesssubscriberswillatleastgetarefundfortheirunitsand2,350 robot). Business subscribers will at least get a refund for their units and 2,350robot).Businesssubscriberswillatleastgetarefundfortheirunitsand300 in Amazon credit. All personal data will be wiped from the device by Amazon.

In a statement to The Verge, Amazon indicates that they’re shifting their attention to Astro robots for the home. Employees that worked on the business version will be migrated to that version:

“We are fully committed to our vision of bringing world-class consumer robotics solutions to the home. To accelerate our progress and ongoing research to make Astro the best in-home robot, we’ve made the decision to wind down support for Astro for Business. We’re excited about the in-home experiences we’re inventing for Astro, and look forward to sharing more in the future.”

The home version of Astro is now only available as a $1,600, invite-only preview. Hopefully those users don’t have the same experience another few months from now.

Filed Under: amazon, bricked, consumers, hardware, ownership, robotics, robots, shut down
Companies: amazon

Colorado Passes Its Third ‘Right To Repair’ Bill

from the fix-your-own-shit dept

Wed, May 8th 2024 03:49pm - Karl Bode

While they vary in potency, New York, Oregon, California, Massachusetts, Colorado, Maine, and Minnesota have all now passed some flavor of right to repair reforms. Colorado just got done passing its third such bill. The first two ensured that consumers had access to the parts, tools, and documentation they needed to repair agricultural equipment and powered wheelchairs.

This latest bill broadens the state protections considerably, ensuring that consumers have the tools, parts, and manuals to be able to repair everything from blenders and refrigerators to laptops and cell phones to appliances and IT equipment. Unsurprisingly, right to repair activists are pretty happy about it:

“Everything breaks at some point and when it does, we should have the freedom to fix it,” said Danny Katz, CoPIRG executive director. “Right to Repair gives us options when our products fail. This bill empowers consumers, letting us choose when, where, and how we fix our products. And having options saves us time and money while reducing the amount of waste that we produce.”

Again, the quality of state right to repair legislation can vary greatly. Many state bills intentionally carve out many of the worst offenders when it comes to efforts to monopolize repair (game consoles, cell phones, medical equipment, agricultural gear, cars). New York state’s bill was watered down post-passage by Democrat Governor Kathy Hochul almost to the point of uselessness.

But while numerous companies (like Apple) keep trying to claim that these reforms pose significant new privacy or security threats to consumers, they’re not having much luck. While U.S. consumer protection is generally on the ropes, right to repair reform efforts aren’t slowing down, and continue to see widespread, bipartisan support from annoyed American consumers.

Filed Under: colorado, consumer protection, hardware, reform, repair, repair monopoly, right to repair, state law

Logitech Launches An “AI” Mouse That’s Just A 2022 Mouse With A Mappable Button

from the because-we-can dept

Mon, May 6th 2024 05:29am - Karl Bode

“AI,” or semi-cooked language learning models are very cool. There’s a world of possibility there in terms of creativity and productivity tools to scientific research.

But early adoption of AI has been more of a rushed mess driven by speculative VC bros who are more interested in making money off of hype (see: pointless AI badges), or cutting corners (see: journalism), or badly automating already broken systems (see: health insurance) or using it as a bludgeon against labor (also see: journalism and media), than any sort of serious beneficial application.

And a lot of these kinds of folks are absolutely obsessed with putting “AI” into products that don’t need it just to generate hype. Even if the actual use case makes no coherent sense.

We most recently saw this with the Human AI pin, which was hyped as some kind of game changing revelation pre-release, only for reviewers to realize it doesn’t really work, and doesn’t really provide much not already accomplished by the supercomputer sitting in everybody’s pocket. But even that’s not as bad as companies who claim they’re integrating AI — despite doing nothing of the sort.

Like Logitech, which recently released a new M750 wireless mouse it has branded as a “signature AI edition.” But as Ars Technica notes, all they did is rebrand a mouse released in 2022 while adding a customizable button:

“I was disappointed to learn that the most distinct feature of the Logitech Signature AI Edition M750 is a button located south of the scroll wheel. This button is preprogrammed to launch the ChatGPT prompt builder, which Logitech recently added to its peripherals configuration app Options+.

That’s pretty much it.”

Ars points to other, similarly pointless ventures, like earbuds with clunky ChatGPT gesture prompt integration or Microsoft’s CoPilot button; stuff that only kind of works and nobody actually asked for. It’s basically just an attempt to seem futuristic and cash in on the hype wave without bothering to see if the actually functionality works or works better than what already exists.

The AI hype cycle isn’t entirely unlike the 5G hype cycle, in that there certainly is interesting and beneficial technology under the hood, but the way it’s being presented or implemented by overzealous marketing types is so detached from reality as to not be entirely coherent.

That creates an association over time in the minds of consumers between the technology and empty bluster, undermining the tech itself and future, actually beneficial use cases.

When bankers and marketing departments took over Silicon Valley it resulted in the actual engineers (like Woz) getting shoved in the corner out of sight. We’re now seeing such a severe disconnect between hype and reality it’s resulting in a golden age of bullshit artists and actively harming everybody in the chain, including the marketing folks absolutely convinced they’re being exceptionally clever.

Filed Under: ai, artificial intelligence, hardware, language learning models, marketing, mouse
Companies: logitech

Google Supports Oregon ‘Right To Repair’ Reform

from the watch-what-I-do,-not-what-I-say dept

Wed, Jan 17th 2024 03:37pm - Karl Bode

Big tech companies have long attempted to monopolize repair options to boost their profits, whether we’re talking about tractors, phones, or game consoles.

But in recent years companies like Apple and Microsoft appear to have realized that with state and federal lawmakers and regulators cracking down on this behavior, and right to repair seeing widespread, bipartisan consumer support, it might be smart to stop swimming upstream when it comes to “right to repair.”

Both Microsoft and Apple have slowly and begrudgingly started making their hardware easier to fix, and have even at times come out in support of certain state and federal right to repair legislation. Now Google has also somewhat pivoted on the issue, coming out in support of Oregon’s looming right to repair legislation, which aims to make tools, parts, and manuals easier to access.

Said Google in a new white paper:

“Repair must be easy enough for anyone to do, whether they are technicians or do-it-yourselfers. This requires that as manufacturers we design products in a manner that enables simple, safe, and correct repairs wherever and by whomever they are done. This is what we call design for serviceability.”

Keep in mind this “support” isn’t always consistent, and many of these companies only support reform as-so-far as their lawyers are writing the laws, ensuring they’re filled with ample loopholes.

Apple, for example, got widespread press praise for “doing a 180 on right to repair” after it supported California’s right to repair law. But upon closer inspection many of the company’s initiatives were somewhat hollow. It still actively supports anti-consumer behaviors like software locks and “parts pairing” (forcing customers to buy interconnected assemblages of parts), and it opposed Oregon’s reform law.

Three states have now passed right to repair laws (New York, Minnesota, California), with Oregon on deck next month. But while many of these laws have been significant improvements (Minnesota), others (New York) were watered down by tech lobbyists after passage, almost to the point of uselessness.

New York’s law, for example, was boiled down to exclude coverage of the automotive, medical equipment, or agricultural gear sectors, where most of the worst, ham-fisted efforts to monopolize repair are ongoing (consolidation of repair options, monopolization of parts, obnoxious and punitive DRM, or actively making tools and manuals hard to come by to discourage independent repair).

So while it’s great to see these companies at least begin to make an effort when it comes to right to repair reforms, it’s still a mistake to take them exclusively at their word.

Filed Under: auto, consumer rights, consumers, drm, hardware, independent repair, oregon, phones, right to repair
Companies: google

HP Hit With Yet Another Lawsuit Over Bricking Printers That Use Third-Party Ink Cartridges

from the this-is-for-your-own-good dept

Thu, Jan 11th 2024 05:23am - Karl Bode

Hewlett Packard (HP) has been socked with yet another lawsuit for crippling the printers of consumers who use cheaper third-party ink cartridges. The lawsuit, filed by eleven plaintiffs in US District Court in the Northern District of Illinois, states that HP misleadingly used its “Dynamic Security” firmware updates to “create a monopoly” over replacement printer ink cartridges.

The lawsuit seeks monetary damages of $5 million, demands that HP immediately cease crippling its printers in such a fashion, and is seeking a trial by jury. From the lawsuit:

“In 2022 and 2023, HP distributed updates to many of its registered customers that featured the functionality of “Dynamic Security” previously discontinued: it disabled the printer if the customer replaced the existing cartridge with a non-HP cartridge. There was no notification of any kind at the time of this firmware update that might inform customers that the update would reduce the printer’s functionality. Even if a customer were able to discern that the update would impede the printer’s functionality with other cartridges, there was no means of opting out of the update.”

Despite years of criticism, HP has only doubled down. As Ars Technica notes, CFO Marie Myers has even lauded the obnoxious, predatory behavior as “relationship building”:

“We absolutely see when you move a customer from that pure transactional model … whether it’s [to] Instant Ink, plus adding on that paper, we sort of see a 20 percent uplift on the value of that customer because you’re locking that person, committing to a longer-term relationship.”

When it comes to obnoxious DRM and bizarre, greedy restrictions, nobody does it better than printer manufacturers. The industry has long waged a not-so-subtle war on its own customers, routinely rolling out firmware updates or DRM preventing them from using more affordable, competitor printer cartridges. Usually under the flimsy pretense of consumer safety and security.

A few years ago, printer manufacturers took this tactic one step further, and began preventing users from being able to use a multifunction printer’s scanner if they didn’t have company sanctioned ink installed. Canon was hit with a $5 million lawsuit in 2021 for the practice, but was able to quietly settle it privately without facing much accountability, or having to change much of its behavior.

In 2022 HP was also hit with a lawsuit (pdf) for preventing scanners from working without sanctioned ink cartridges installed, and not being transparent about this with customers. HP has spent a few years trying to wiggle out of the suit, but hasn’t had much luck. Last August, U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman ruled that that case could also proceed.

It’s not clear how many lawsuits and regulatory actions are required before HP gets the message that this kind of behavior is violently unpopular bullshit that harms the company’s overall brand at the cost of a slight goose in quarterly earnings.

Filed Under: consumer rights, drm, hardware, ink cartridges, ink jet, laserjet, printers, right to repair
Companies: hp