Comment on [deleted]
insomniac_lemon@lemmy.cafe 1 month ago
On the other hand: anything anti-consumer like this (like bricking game consoles) has potential to backfire in a myriad of ways when the inevitable exploits are found.
Ransomware customers, target people you don’t like (perhaps even by employees), or simply brick devices to cause returns and/or drive up customer support costs, or just cause a scandal to tarnish the brand itself.
The closer to a real brick it is (rather than just a soft lockout), the more potential there is for disaster.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 1 month ago
But when the product/service is functionally mandated by the infrastructure (you need an internet connection to do everything from paying bills to applying for jobs / you need a car to survive in a society full of car-exclusive paved roads) and the commercial seller has a functional cartel/monopoly on production, the manufacturer has less and less reason to treat you as a potentially-loseable client and more as a potentially-saleable commodity.
Turning these high value durable goods into extensions of the lucrative police state surveillance network is appealing to a monopolized industry that’s heavily integrated with the domestic regime.