alt Hacker News> Liability lawsuits drive a lot of this :/
That's the official line a lot of the vendors responsible will push, but the evidence for that is...lacking.
Compare that to the simple reality that doing this is more profitable and devices that can't be easily repaired lead to more consistent sales. Capitalism gonna capitalism.
Replies
> Capitalism gonna capitalism.
Then respond with more capitalism and don't buy devices that are not user-serviceable.
- Buy a PC instead of a PS5/Xbox
- Buy appliances that are compatible with Home Assistant, or stick to "dumb" devices
- Refuse to connect to the Internet devices such as TVs and cars that do not strictly need it, regardless of "convenience"
- Reject proprietary software and apps
- Only buy phones whose bootloader is unlockable, so that the stock OS can be replaced by something user-controlled
Yea I don't doubt that capitalist greed goes into it too.
And in the case of true fear of liability lawsuits, even that also has capitalist greed undertones:
Imagine you're building random-iot-device-with-a-lithium-battery. You could:
1. Build the whole thing so it's easily hackable
Your lawyers point out prior art in liability cases around exploding/burning lithium-powered-devices and won't really approve release without some precautionary measures
2. Properly isolate and test the battery and related systems, ensure they can't possibly overheat even in the face of arbitrary input from the rest of the system, if modified. Lock down the battery parts, leave everything else open.
3. Do some testing on the whole-ass system to assuage your lawyers, and then lock the whole thing down
3 is typically cheaper, a lot of companies then open door 3 instead of 2.
Capitalism and liability lawsuits tag teaming here imo
Side note, the reason we have a litigious society imo is because most companies reach for door #4
4. Yolo, release unsafe product even with company's own firmware, fires and explosions ensue, people are maimed and die, lawsuits follow. Because lawsuits are the only recourse, we don't hold the companies criminally liable or anything.