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by Epiphany21 1517 days ago
People are going to keep getting burned until they learn a simple lesson: No schematics, no specs, and no source code equals e-waste. If you don't want a timebomb that bricks itself in N years, then buy from a company that respects your right to own stuff.
1 comments
SpikeDad 1517 days ago
Nonsense. Maybe people here but Hacker patrons are hardly a representative cross section.

The more insidious problem that regular people come up against every day is devices that depend on cloud access. When that disappears the devices are garbage.

I would like to see more legislation attempting to protect that. Perhaps some sort of requirement to escrow cloud algorithms or whatever it would take to open source protocols.

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Epiphany21 1517 days ago
>The more insidious problem that regular people come up against every day is devices that depend on cloud access.

That idea doesn't hold up in reality. Open source projects with open protocols allow users to host the server side tools at home. The fly by night behaviors you're describing are almost unique to closed source, proprietary solutions such as this home automation system, which is now bricked.

>Perhaps some sort of requirement to escrow cloud algorithms or whatever it would take to open source protocols.

Open protocols are not enough. That doesn't address the security problems that arise from unpatched firmware. Whether it's the OEM deciding to pull support or some 14 year old poking around stuff he doesn't own, or some kind of 2038 time bug, the result is the same. You can wind up with a brick at any time.

This all will continue until consumers grow a brain.

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SpikeDad 1514 days ago
Again interesting but open source is never going to be a commercial product for the vast majority of people. Period. Linux is the ultimate proof of that.

You think a solution is people should run their own servers and host their own cloud services for their $20 outlet?

I'm at awe everyday by the amazing stuff people do here but the people here are not the consumer market in any sense and comments like yours just aren't helpful.

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