It shouldn’t be a matter of suing; the companies (and their executives personally) should be criminally prosecuted for violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by exceeding authorized access. Nobody legitimately consents to having their property sabotaged and used to exploit them, so this enshittification should be treated like any other instance of malicious hacking.
And another thing: it is absolutely an indictment of American society how we’ve all been conditioned to tolerate this shit, to the point that only one person in this thread even manages to think of it as a civil tort and everybody else just sort of shrugs and discusses technological workarounds.
Where the Hell is the righteous anger‽ We should be marching on the FTC with fucking torches and pitchforks, to force them to start doing their goddamn jobs again!
The ember is still there. Once in a while it flares up. But it burned too bright for too long, and is part of the reason why I’m a cynical husk of a human being. I advocate for privacy-centric thinking among friends and family but it’s either preaching to the choir (in the best cases), blank stares, or they’ve already got an Amazon speaker in every room just to turn the lights on/off and set timers.
Why is it legal for companies to collect every data they want or the ability to turn it off (and not allow you to use the device you purchased unless you consent to their abusive EULA)? Why is it legal for companies to remove functionality from a device after the purchase? Why is it legal for companies to prevent you from using devices you paid for unless you agree to forced arbitration (and there’s no way to withdraw your consent).
I believe so.
But if it goes anything like most class action lawsuits, it’d take forever, and if they don’t manage to absolve themselves because you clicked ‘Agree’ on the TOS screen (even though the TV wouldn’t work otherwise), the final settlement would be a whopping $12
I wonder if it is possible to sue TV makers for adding ads after you purchased the device.
It shouldn’t be a matter of suing; the companies (and their executives personally) should be criminally prosecuted for violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act by exceeding authorized access. Nobody legitimately consents to having their property sabotaged and used to exploit them, so this enshittification should be treated like any other instance of malicious hacking.
And another thing: it is absolutely an indictment of American society how we’ve all been conditioned to tolerate this shit, to the point that only one person in this thread even manages to think of it as a civil tort and everybody else just sort of shrugs and discusses technological workarounds.
Where the Hell is the righteous anger‽ We should be marching on the FTC with fucking torches and pitchforks, to force them to start doing their goddamn jobs again!
The ember is still there. Once in a while it flares up. But it burned too bright for too long, and is part of the reason why I’m a cynical husk of a human being. I advocate for privacy-centric thinking among friends and family but it’s either preaching to the choir (in the best cases), blank stares, or they’ve already got an Amazon speaker in every room just to turn the lights on/off and set timers.
tl;dr I’m tired, boss.
Those last two scenarios are painfully accurate.
I am also tired.
There’s just soooo many idiots vs people that care and educate themselves on privacy.
Every once in a while I visit friends or stay at hotels and catch a glimpse of cable… My God it’s just endless ads with minutes of shows sprinkled in.
And they are paying for it…
We need better consumer protection laws.
Why is it legal for companies to collect every data they want or the ability to turn it off (and not allow you to use the device you purchased unless you consent to their abusive EULA)? Why is it legal for companies to remove functionality from a device after the purchase? Why is it legal for companies to prevent you from using devices you paid for unless you agree to forced arbitration (and there’s no way to withdraw your consent).
I believe so.
But if it goes anything like most class action lawsuits, it’d take forever, and if they don’t manage to absolve themselves because you clicked ‘Agree’ on the TOS screen (even though the TV wouldn’t work otherwise), the final settlement would be a whopping $12