As of right now you can still buy normal fridges and if they want to integrate screens into them I can always just refuse to connect them to the internet.
Outside of the US there are consumer laws that will prevent them from doing anything too bad. But yeah you lot of seriously screwed, you might want to reply to Swedish citizenship or something.
korazail@lemmy.myserv.one 3 days ago
This is my fear. It’s still possible, barely, to buy a dumb TV. When my current fridge/dishwasher/stove/etc dies in a few years, will there even be a dumb version? Will it cost 5x the price of a spyware version? How about my thermostat. HVAC? Car? And will attempting to disable any of this spyware land me in prison?
Right now, uninformed/unaware/stupid people are affected by this. Pretty soon, everyone will be, or they will have to forego things we consider to be necessities now, like refrigeration and cell phones or be rich enough to buy the privacy-focused models.
I can’t immediately find it, but I just saw another post about a new privacy-focused cellphone with a huge price tag. The established manufacturers have a cost advantage. Samsung et al. can easily make a new fridge with fewer consumer rights, but a new company will have to spend tons of capital to make a factory to put out a comparable product; and they won’t have the advantage of selling your data to subsidize the price.
Privacy is and will become more-so a commodity unless we fight for it.
Madzielle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 days ago
I think about the car thing a lot, as we may need a new one in a few years.
My husband’s father leased a new BMW. He picked us up on easter with it. The whole front is a giant screen. You wave your hand a certain way, it can change the song or adjust the volume… by waving your hand. While he thought it was cool, all I could think about was the fact something was visually recording every movement in the car. And what of you’re a person who talks with their hands?
Stupid fucking needless features.