Good Policy and Good Politics

Consumer advocates are asking the FTC to ban product downgrades on already sold products.

You know, when Amazon demands a surcharge to not show ads on your digital picture frame, and then shows ads, or when Peleton retroactively places a charge on resold exercise bikes, or when an educational products company starts charges parents for access after selling it to the school system for a single low price, or pretty much anything Elon Musk sells.

This would be a good thing.  The whole, "You'll own nothing and you'll be happy," business model is an exercise in defrauding the consumer:(So is HP's program of locking out 3rd party printer supplies)

Consumer and digital rights activists are calling on the US Federal Trade Commission to stop device-makers using software to reduce product functionality, bricking unloved kit, or adding surprise fees post-purchase.

In an eight-page letter [PDF] to the Commission (FTC), the activists mentioned the Google/Levis collaboration on a denim jacket that contained sensors enabling it to control an Android device through a special app. When the app was discontinued in 2023, the jacket lost that functionality. The letter also mentions the "Car Thing," an automotive infotainment device created by Spotify, which bricked the device fewer than two years after launch and didn't offer a refund.

Another example highlighted is the $1,695 Snoo connected bassinet, manufactured by an outfit named Happiest Baby. Kids outgrow bassinets, yet Happiest Baby this year notified customers that if they ever sold or gave away their bassinets, the device’s next owner would have to pay a new $19.99 monthly subscription fee to keep certain features. Activists argue that reduces the resale value of the devices.

Signatories to the letter include individuals from Consumer Reports, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, teardown artists iFixit, and the Software Freedom Conservancy. Environmental groups and computer repair shops also signed the letter.

The FTC acting on this should be a no-brainer.

It's good policy, and GREAT politics.  Everyone hates it when manufacturers pull this crap on them.