Forced Obsolescence / Obsolescence by Design

16 readers

0 users here now

Chatter about forced obsolescence, including but not limited to:

salvaging or repurposing abandoned / unsupported hardware
name and shame culprits of obsolescence
right to repair guidance and advocacy in situations involving obsolescence
obtaining old software to drive old hardware, finding archives, building old binaries from source

related communities (decentralized only)

somewhat related to forced obsolescence:

!buyitforlife@slrpnk.net - Buy stuff that lasts a long time, if you must buy something
!buyitforlife@discuss.tchncs.de - Buy stuff that lasts a long time, if you must buy something
!fixing@slrpnk.net - fix it, don’t replace it
!fixit@disflux.org
!righttorepair@midwest.social - exercise your right to fix stuff
!right2repair@discuss.tchncs.de - exercise your right to fix stuff
!sustainabletech@lemmy.sdf.org - sustainable technology
!permacomputing@lemmy.sdf.org - To discuss computing that’s not resource intensive
!permacomputing@slrpnk.net - To discuss computing that’s not resource intensive
!zerowaste@slrpnk.net - To discuss waste avoidance

founded 6 months ago

MODERATORS

activistPnk@slrpnk.net

Legal theory that forced obsolescence involving services can be countered using EU warranty law (europa.eu)

submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by activistPnk@slrpnk.net to c/forced_obsolescence@slrpnk.net

0 comments fedilink hide all child comments

The linked article states:

“You always have the right to a minimum 2-year guarantee if the digital content or service turns out to be faulty, not as advertised or not working as expected.”

IIUC, this means if a service is paired with software, and the API + software employs #forcedObsolescence mid-contract, they must fix or refund. Thus two example scenarios come to mind:

If you were to pay ProtonVPN for premium service in the year leading up to June 2021 and you ran AOS 5, you would have lost service after less than an annual subscription period. ProtonVPN would have to remedy it under EU law.
If your bank charges annual fees and they push a forced upgrade at any time that obsoletes your platform (so you cannot use the forced upgrade), the bank might be in violation of this EU consumer protection law.

no comments (yet)

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

there doesn't seem to be anything here