The FTC should stop tech companies from bricking their products, consumer groups say

A conjugation of user protection and anti-waste groups wants nan Federal Trade Commission to spell aft “software tethering,” aliases nan believe of tying hardware’s functionality to outer package — which often renders products unusable aft package updates stop.

The groups, including Consumer Reports, iFixIt, US PIRG, nan Electronic Frontier Foundation, nan Center for Economic Justice, and Californians Against Waste, person signed onto a missive asking nan FTC to “create clear guidance” connected package tethering. “While nan FTC has taken immoderate constricted actions pinch respect to this issue, a deficiency of clarity and enforcement has led to an ecosystem wherever consumers cannot reliably count connected nan connected products they bargain to last,” nan missive reads.

The missive calls retired a number of products whose functionalities person been constricted — aliases eliminated altogether — by this practice. In immoderate cases, arsenic was nan lawsuit pinch nan $1,695 Snoo bassinet, customers “discovered that immoderate of nan features that were primitively advertised pinch nan product” would soon beryllium locked down a monthly subscription service. In different instances, for illustration nan Juicero juicer, nan products became unsupported and efficaciously unusable aft nan startups down them unopen down. 

“Manufacturers progressively usage package to fastener america into only utilizing our tech successful ways that just-so-happen to make nan astir profits for them,” Lucas Rockett Gutterman, Designed to Last head pinch US PIRG, said successful an emailed statement. “If we want to extremity nan tech manufacture from pushing america into replacing products that still work, we request to guidelines up for consumers’ correct to get what we’ve paid for successful nan property of connected devices.”

The authors besides statement that moreover major, established companies for illustration Google termination definite products — and their support — leaving customers pinch waste, and statement that smart location products for illustration awesome appliances are peculiarly susceptible to this. “With larger products, uncertainty astir erstwhile these products mightiness neglect represents nan nonaccomplishment of a important finance and nan creation of literal tons of waste,” nan missive reads. A forthcoming Consumer Reports study cited successful nan missive recovered that of 22 awesome smart appliance makers, only 3 provided a group clip play complete which they’d supply cybersecurity and package updates. Four others said they’d supply support and firmware updates for nan products complete an unspecified clip period.

“We expect nan problem to get worse complete clip arsenic much companies build ‘smart’ products that link to nan net aliases are app controlled,” nan missive reads. To remedy this, nan groups are proposing nan FTC:

“Consumers are already being burned by package obsolescence,” nan missive states, “and absent guidance and enforcement, we are seeing companies domiciled nan dice connected trading connected devices that they person nary volition of opinionated behind.”