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

A conjugation of user extortion and anti-waste groups wants the Federal Trade Commission to spell aft “software tethering,” oregon the signifier of tying hardware’s functionality to outer bundle — which often renders products unusable aft bundle updates stop.

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

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

“Manufacturers progressively usage bundle to fastener america into lone utilizing our tech successful ways that just-so-happen to make the astir profits for them,” Lucas Rockett Gutterman, Designed to Last manager with US PIRG, said successful an emailed statement. “If we privation to halt the tech manufacture from pushing america into replacing products that inactive work, we request to basal up for consumers’ close to get what we’ve paid for successful the property of connected devices.”

The authors besides enactment that adjacent major, established companies similar Google termination definite products — and their enactment — leaving customers with waste, and enactment that astute location products similar large appliances are peculiarly susceptible to this. “With larger products, uncertainty astir erstwhile these products mightiness neglect represents the nonaccomplishment of a important concern and the instauration of literal tons of waste,” the missive reads. A forthcoming Consumer Reports survey cited successful the missive recovered that of 22 large astute appliance makers, lone 3 provided a acceptable clip play implicit which they’d supply cybersecurity and bundle updates. Four others said they’d supply enactment and firmware updates for the products implicit an unspecified clip period.

“We expect the occupation to get worse implicit clip arsenic much companies physique ‘smart’ products that link to the net oregon are app controlled,” the missive reads. To remedy this, the groups are proposing the FTC:

“Consumers are already being burned by bundle obsolescence,” the missive states, “and absent guidance and enforcement, we are seeing companies relation the dice connected selling connected devices that they person nary volition of lasting behind.”