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How Proprietary Software Lets Companies Cheat (locusmag.com)
"Proprietary software makes it possible to design products to cheat ordinary users..." writes Richard Stallman -- linking to a new essay by Cory Doctorow:
Carriers adapted custom versions of Android to lock customers to their networks with shovelware apps that couldn't be removed from the home-screen and app store lock-in that forced customers to buy apps through their phone company. What began with printers and spread to phones is coming to everything: this kind of technology has proliferated to smart thermostats (no apps that let you turn your AC cooler when the power company dials it up a couple degrees), tractors (no buying your parts from third-party companies), cars (no taking your GM to an independent mechanic), and many categories besides.
All these forms of cheating treat the owner of the device as an enemy of the company that made or sold it, to be thwarted, tricked, or forced into conducting their affairs in the best interest of the company's shareholders. To do this, they run programs and processes that attempt to hide themselves and their nature from their owners, and proxies for their owners (like reviewers and researchers). Increasingly, cheating devices behave differently depending on who is looking at them. When they believe themselves to be under close scrutiny, their behavior reverts to a more respectable, less egregious standard. This is a shocking and ghastly turn of affairs, one that takes us back to the dark ages.
All these forms of cheating treat the owner of the device as an enemy of the company that made or sold it, to be thwarted, tricked, or forced into conducting their affairs in the best interest of the company's shareholders. To do this, they run programs and processes that attempt to hide themselves and their nature from their owners, and proxies for their owners (like reviewers and researchers). Increasingly, cheating devices behave differently depending on who is looking at them. When they believe themselves to be under close scrutiny, their behavior reverts to a more respectable, less egregious standard. This is a shocking and ghastly turn of affairs, one that takes us back to the dark ages.
He's not just focussing on phones: He's talking about all kinds of new tech that is Internet-enabled or surreptitiously recording your private information and not fully controlled by the consumers.
He's talking about thermostats provided by your power utility that are controlled remotely by that utility to reduce your power consumption when they feel like it.
He's talking about vendors who are locking the owners into expensive service contracts or buying parts and supplies at forced inflated prices, using CFAA and DMCA to keep users from doing their own mainternance.
All of these problems occur because of the way that consumers and citizens are prevented from having full control over the devices we purchase: With the business-slanted contracts and laws that prevent us from knowing what the software is doing and what our devices are surreptitiously reporting back to businesses and governments.
Richard Stallman has been warning about these problems for many years.
Sometimes the "writing on the wall" is blood spatter...
What happens if cooperation is necessary for sustainability, but people don't cooperate and control the thermostats themselves? Who then should have the final say?
Money works. Where I used to live there was a discount on power bills if you agreed to have a smart switch on your A/C. I never noticed any difference in temperature, and I paid less. I benefitted from the arrangement and so did the utility.
With there being significant pressure to increase unstable power generation methods like solar and wind, it is a good thing to be able to control the load somewhat on demand. Heating and AC are good candidates for this.
Uhhh My Alcatel Flint didn't come with FB so I didn't have to uninstall it, not that it would have been a problem because you can root an Alcatel phone in under 4 minutes using only the software provided by Alcatel, no third party malware like Kingoroot required.
So no reason to get locked into the Apple iGarden, not when you can spend 5 minutes Googling to find a phone with the features you want that allows users to easily root.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Your argument is AKA the hermit in the cave. You forget that in industry after industry, product after product, less and less acceptable alternatives exist. The solution is rapidly going the way of the dodo and you stand there fiddling.
Many security cameras require a cloud account for a valid reason... Because of NAT, how else are you going to view your cameras from outside of your home network?
No need. I have NAT, but I have one public ip address. Whatever I want to expose on the net, is exposed on that address via port forwarding.