Internet-Connected 'Smart' Products for Babies Suddenly Start Charging Subscription Fees (msn.com) 134
The EFF has complained that in general "smart" products for babies "collect a ton of information about you and your baby on an ongoing basis". (For this year's "worst in privacy" product at CES they chose a $1,200 baby bassinet equipped with a camera, a microphone, and a radar sensor...)
But today the Washington Post reported on a $1,700 bassinet that surprised the mother of a one-month-old when it "abruptly demanded money for a feature she relied on to soothe her baby to sleep." The internet-connected bassinet... reliably comforted her 1-month-old — just as it had her first child — until it started charging $20 a month for some abilities, including one that keeps the bassinet's motion and sounds at one level all night. The level-lock feature previously was available without a fee. "It all felt really intrusive — like they went into our bedroom and clawed back this feature that we've been depending on...." When the Snoo's maker, Happiest Baby, introduced a premium subscription for some of the bassinet's most popular features in July, owners filed dozens of complaints to the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau, coordinated review bombs and vented on social media — saying the company took advantage of their desperation for sleep to bait-and-switch them...
Happiest Baby isn't the only baby gear company that has rolled out a subscription. In 2023, makers of the Miku baby monitor, which retails for up to $400, elicited similar fury from parents when it introduced a $10 monthly subscription for most features. A growing number of internet-connected products have lost software support or functionality after purchase in recent years, such as Spotify's Car Thing — a $90 Bluetooth streaming device that the company announced in May it plans to discontinue — and Levi's $350 smart jacket, which let users control their phones by swiping sensors on its sleeve...
Seventeen consumer protection and tech advocacy groups cited Happiest Baby and Car Thing in a letter urging the FTC to create guidelines that ensure products retain core functionality without the imposition of fees that did not exist when the items were originally bought.
The Times notes that the bassinets are often resold, so the subscription fees are partly to cover the costs of supporting new owners, according to Happiest Baby's vice president for marketing and communications. But the article three additional perspectives:
But today the Washington Post reported on a $1,700 bassinet that surprised the mother of a one-month-old when it "abruptly demanded money for a feature she relied on to soothe her baby to sleep." The internet-connected bassinet... reliably comforted her 1-month-old — just as it had her first child — until it started charging $20 a month for some abilities, including one that keeps the bassinet's motion and sounds at one level all night. The level-lock feature previously was available without a fee. "It all felt really intrusive — like they went into our bedroom and clawed back this feature that we've been depending on...." When the Snoo's maker, Happiest Baby, introduced a premium subscription for some of the bassinet's most popular features in July, owners filed dozens of complaints to the Federal Trade Commission and the Better Business Bureau, coordinated review bombs and vented on social media — saying the company took advantage of their desperation for sleep to bait-and-switch them...
Happiest Baby isn't the only baby gear company that has rolled out a subscription. In 2023, makers of the Miku baby monitor, which retails for up to $400, elicited similar fury from parents when it introduced a $10 monthly subscription for most features. A growing number of internet-connected products have lost software support or functionality after purchase in recent years, such as Spotify's Car Thing — a $90 Bluetooth streaming device that the company announced in May it plans to discontinue — and Levi's $350 smart jacket, which let users control their phones by swiping sensors on its sleeve...
Seventeen consumer protection and tech advocacy groups cited Happiest Baby and Car Thing in a letter urging the FTC to create guidelines that ensure products retain core functionality without the imposition of fees that did not exist when the items were originally bought.
The Times notes that the bassinets are often resold, so the subscription fees are partly to cover the costs of supporting new owners, according to Happiest Baby's vice president for marketing and communications. But the article three additional perspectives:
- "This new technology is actually allowing manufacturers to change the way the status quo has been for decades, which is that once you buy something, you own it and you can do whatever you want. Right now, consumers have no trust that what they're buying is actually going to keep working." — Lucas Gutterman, who leads the Public Interest Research Group's "Design to Last" campaign.
- "It's a shame to be beholden to companies' goodwill, to require that they make good decisions about which settings to put behind a paywall. That doesn't feel good, and you can't always trust that, and there's no guarantee that next week Happiest Baby isn't going to announce that all of the features are behind a paywall." — Elizabeth Chamberlain, sustainability director at iFixit.
- "It's no longer just an out-and-out purchase of something. It's a continuous rental, and people don't know that." — Natasha Tusikov, an associate professor at York University
How to infuriate, for less than $1 a day. (Score:3, Funny)
A $1700 bassinet. A $400 baby monitor. You’re telling me the household that can afford that are “infuriated” over a $10/month fee? Go figure I’m struggling to believe that. Sounds like the family who spends $10 a day on Starbucks before 8AM.
I feel for those “surprised” by the concept of including 90 days of Premium services for free only to find a charge showing up on the 91st day. They must have just gotten their internet card yesterday.
Re:How to infuriate, for less than $1 a day. (Score:5, Insightful)
If they can't afford it, they should probably return their babies.
Re:How to infuriate, for less than $1 a day. (Score:5, Informative)
If you buy new baby equipment for hundreds of dollars instead of buying it used for a few cents on the dollar, you are highly affluent and / or deluded.
Babies grow up so fast that almost any equipment is in very good condition after they've outgrown it.
Re:How to infuriate, for less than $1 a day. (Score:5, Interesting)
Not just growing fast, but the products tend to be very sturdily built in order to keep the baby protected, so can last a long time as well.
We had a crib last 4 generations, passing around the family, looked like something out of the Adam's family. A cousin threw it away after her kids outgrew it, boy was she pissed when she found out that it had been a valuable antique (we found a similar one online to show her the price) and that it had been a loan, so now she had to replace it ($$$).
So why use a Subscription? (Score:5, Insightful)
Babies grow up so fast that almost any equipment is in very good condition after they've outgrown it.
Which also makes you wonder what the companies are thinking. If you are only going to pay the monthly fee for a few months before the baby has outgrown it why not just add $30 to the price and avoid annoying your customers? You can probably get more money that way while being less annoying..
Re:So why use a Subscription? (Score:4, Insightful)
The answer's in the summary:
But yes, you're at least right to the extent that they didn't think through their business model before they started selling the product.
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didn't think through their business model
Of course they did. That's why it started with a whopping $1,700 price tag.
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So then ask the new buyer for $30 to register for the online service. Of course they don't want to do that
Why the hell do you need an online service for a basinet? It sounds absurd
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Re:So why use a Subscription? (Score:4, Insightful)
Why is this not bait and switch.
Sold with this function without need of a subscription.
Now the same function, not a new function, requires a subscription to work. Hell the playstation with access to linux was sued for removing the access.
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If you buy new baby equipment for hundreds of dollars instead of buying it used for a few cents on the dollar, you are highly affluent and / or deluded.
Babies grow up so fast that almost any equipment is in very good condition after they've outgrown it.
And it everyone did that, the price of used will skyrocket.
The problem here isn't buying new, you can get loads of new baby stuff for cheap although on a good stroller, it's worth forking out a bit more to get one that is difficult to break, easy to assemble, transport and above all else, comfortable for the occupant. The problem here is two fold.
1. Buying things that are internet connected, specifically things that require an internet connection to operate. Yeah, you've got to be daft to do that.
2.
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1. Buying things that are internet connected, specifically things that require an internet connection to operate. Yeah, you've got to be daft to do that.
I think there needs to be some service marks for electronics like the USB logo that people learn to look for; some type of Icon that says "All features can be used in an Offline mode without an Internet Connection, and No Offline features require a subscription" - Including that any Smartphone App required can be used with no extra purchases.
Offlin
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There’s a caveat to this theory. As a parent who was very pro consignment, I was forbidden for buying specific items used. I could not buy used car seats because you don’t know if they’ve ever been in a wreck. I could not buy a used crib because the safety rules changed so often that the distance between the slats may no longer be legal. What was legal five years ago might not even be legal now. I became a fan of Graco because they sold frames the car seat clicked into. Need a stroller? Cl
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Cribs and bassinets? Many of the good ones are no longer approved, and selling unapproved ones is a liability. It is illegal to sell recalled products under the Consumer Safety act. How do you know if an item is recalled, really? So people throw them out rather than sell them. I bought my classic, solid-wood, baby-killer crib in a dark alley for cash. Not even kidding. Bought it from some mom who didn't w
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Its not the money, its the principle (Score:5, Insightful)
If you buy an expensive product in good faith thats supposed to work out of the box and then one day its "Oh, you need to pay us a monthly fee from now on or you'll have a brick" then people have a right to be pissed off. No doubt there was some weazel wording that this was a possibility in appendix D paragraph 94 of the T&Cs that you had to click through but thats no excuse.
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Remarkable.com pulled one of these stunts a few years ago with the Remarkable2 tablet. They went on Kickstarter to fund their new e-ink notepad, promising software updates to the backers(because let's face it, their software was pretty basic and limited, still is). The first year the software updates came like a trickle.
Then one day they made a software update that literally removed existing functionality, and announced a subscription model going forward if you wanted those functions bac
Re:Its not the money, its the principle (Score:5, Informative)
In most juristictions, but .... ugh, probably not the united states becauses reasons... you would absolutely be entitled to a full refund if they removed advetised features. In australia a device has a lifetime manufacturer fault warranty by law (that doesnt cover normal wear and tear or accidents or whatever. Basically if it comes broke or is unfit for purpose your entitled to a refund). Part of that is, if a manufacturer intentionally disables your product, thats a manufacturer fault and you are legally entitled to a full refund, and the ACCC does NOT fuck around with this sort of thing. The Europeans are even more hardcore, they have absolutely no reservations about infliicting silly-money fines and if necessary using whatever treaties at their disposal to claw that money back from foreign manufacturers of defective products.
Put simple, if they disable an advertise feature, then its unfit for purpose and your entitled to a refund. This, by the way, also applies to single player games where they just remove features or disable it via removing authentication servers, though there havent been a lot of cases prosecuting that, so far.
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And were those T&Cs made available before purchase?
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“But the plans were on display”
“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”
“That’s the display department.”
“With a flashlight.”
“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”
“So had the stairs.”
“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the do
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change back the sale
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Most problems here are first world problems so whats your point? Unless you're just another dumb kid with a chip on his shoulder about people with more money than you.
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These kind of products are expensive, rich people buy them first.
This means that:
1) the rich people sell/donate them after use (especially something like a baby product that becomes surplus once the baby has outgrown it) so that less affluent people can benefit from it. But this model is completely ruined if there's a subscription required.
2) the early adopters fund further development which results in cost reduction and competition, making the functionality more available in future.
Without the rich early a
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so that less affluent people can benefit from it. But this model is completely ruined if there's a subscription required.
The bigger trouble is there is Not a subscription model originally. I'm pretty sure even many of the Affluent would be hesitant to buy a $400 monitor after seeing that it also requires a subscription - it Just didn't at the time of sale.
They might do it anyways, but it's still at least increasing the price in their mind to at least $600.
The rich or affluent are in general not peo
Expecting law-school curriculim in high school? (Score:2)
EULAs are not new. Neither is the concept of a sucker. Educate.
So then you're expecting the school system to have a law-school level class on deciphering EULA legalese as part of the curriculum? Christ, I think we're barely getting basic reading comprehension/math through as it is now!
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How is education supposed to help when literally every company behaves this way or is heading this way? When every product you buy turns rent-seeking? When they are all out to screw you over?
Educating yourself will help you to choose between Leopards or Panthers eating your face. Very helpful.
Educating the populace (starting with our own kids), will help everyone realize they are all Leopards and Panthers. Not just the ones selling you otherwise.
There is a reason there are no trillionaire Nigerian email scammers, and it’s certainly not due to a lack of email recipients. Education does have value.
Re:How to infuriate, for less than $1 a day. (Score:5, Insightful)
Just because the amount may be insignificant doesn't mean that it can't rankle due to the principle and perceived actual bait and switch.
Plus, could also be gift from much wealthier grandparents.
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The amount is not insignificant. It's actually a very high cost. $10 a month is $120 a year. That's 30% of the cost the brand new ones used to cost. In fact this cost can be more than the depreciation on a brand new unit would have been after a year.
It seems that newer customers will be in better shape, since the unit that used to cost $400 now costs $120 day brand new from the manufacturer. In other words: New customers have greatly discounted hardware in exchange for a subscription paid for on t
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There's a reason I said "may be" in front of insignificant. I was taking geekmux's premise and saying that even if true, it's still bad. Not that it was actually an insignificant amount.
I also doubt that you could get $300 for a $400 baby monitor 1-2 years later. It's still an electronic device, which has hefty hefty depreciation.
On the other hand If your resale of the device occurs just before the subscription policy goes into effect, then the buyer of your used part became utterly screwed instead of you. They'd probably seek to reverse the transaction unless the 180 day chargeback limit passed.
That assumes a payment system that allows a chargeback. With resale, cash is much more likely than credit.
Or are you talking about the store selling it for $400 as "resale" vs
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doubt that you could get $300 for a $400 baby monitor 1-2 years later. It's still an electronic device
It would not have been that unlikely. The manufacturer's changes were around October 2023 more than a year ago, and I believe eBay does not keep data going back that far.
But if you check eBay today, then you would see there are Pre-Owned listings in "Good working condition" that sold successfully for $90 on models which are approximately $100 new.
So it's possible you could have used one throughout m
Re:How to infuriate, for less than $1 a day. (Score:5, Insightful)
A $1700 bassinet. A $400 baby monitor. You’re telling me the household that can afford that are “infuriated” over a $10/month fee?
It's not the fee itself. It's the principle of bait-and-switch. That is wrong, no matter the price of the items themselves.
Re:How to infuriate, for less than $1 a day. (Score:5, Insightful)
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" I know far better than to buy any of this crap,"
How did you know ahead of time that they would add a subscription that was not present at purchase?
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Their first mistake was buying a $1700 bassinet. It's borderline insanity to spend that much on this thing no matter how you look at it.
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Wait until you buy a car for 50K and after a year everything in the car requires a monthly payment of 200$. Car won't start ... software license, heater won't work .. software license, seats won't move ... software license. The software license concept is broken. Everything is controlled by software.
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Then I guess capitalism is dead since it requires the concept of ownership.
Re: How to infuriate, for less than $1 a day. (Score:5, Insightful)
You sound just like a director who suggested this new subscription model.
If the subscription model is not in place from the day you bought it, it should be illegal to add it on later for the features you had from 1.
You pay a certain price for a product and it's features. That is your legal agreement. If you now start demanding money for something you have already paid for, it's blackmail.
A subscription would still be allowed if it covered only new features, not present at the point of sale, added on later.
Re:How to infuriate, for less than $1 a day. (Score:4, Informative)
This was not 90 days, it was significantly longer - it said the product reliably worked for her first child and then started demanding payment when she had another child later. There's also no mention that there was any statement up front about a 90 day trial. This was all basic functionality of the product that was included in the $1700 purchase cost.
Sure they can probably afford $10 for this, but it's the principle of it. They bought a product that offered a certain set of functionality for $1700, only to be then told later that some of this functionality was now being taken away unless you pay extra for it.
Then consider $10 might not be so bad, but if everything starts doing this sooner its a LOT more than $10 and it becomes a huge problem.
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A 3000 dollar gaming PC? Are you telling me someone who can afford such a machine can't afford a 10 dollar a month fee for the GPU to work?
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$10/month for the GPU
$10/month for the CPU
$10/month for each PCIE port
$10/month for each SSD
$10/month for each USB port
$10/month for each input peripheral
$10/month for each video output port
$10/month for each monitor
$10/month for each network interface
$10/month for each channel of audio output
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Nowadays with cloud service, you basically lease computer except they aren't on premise.
I think that a "lease a crib" service could have some success. The problem is "selling" a thing and then asking for payments afterward in a sneaky way.
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$10/month for each gigabyte of network data received
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Re: How to infuriate, for less than $1 a day. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: How to infuriate, for less than $1 a day. (Score:3)
Many ISPs are using CG-NAT, and it's a pain to bypass without some kind of cloud server. Especially if both the home ISP and mobile ISP use CG-NAT. Even if they don't, the average person may not figure out how to open ports on their firewall. Or want to turn on UPNP. Or setup dynamic DNS.
Even of the connectivity issue is solved, there is probably some data you want to retain, such as video recordings. They need to be stored somewhere. That's typically on a cloud server. Again, average Joe probably doesn't w
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Yes CGNAT is a huge problem, and an excuse for this kind of dangerous behavior. The lack of user awareness is another, users don't know *how* the product works and don't know what servers it might interact with or require. Many users give up their privacy to unknown parties without even realizing it.
Being asked to pay a subscription isn't actually the worst outcome, because it creates a contractual relationship between you and the provider. So long as the subscription requirement is disclosed up front.
Many
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I agree with most of what you wrote. My HD Homerun Flex 4K uses a locally attached SSD in a USB enclosure. It can operate completely locally without internet access. There is an optional cloud service for the program guide, that does require internet.
I don't really care for the recordings to be backed up in the cloud.
Sadly, the device falls way short with remote access. The stupid Android app does not work using a VPN. Supposedly, it can work remotely through a browser, but I haven't gotten it to work. I di
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But why does a device like that need a subscription at all? It is ridiculous for it to have a subscription for features that should be standalone anyway. It should be able to connect to a house network without the need for a cloudserver.
Aside from "we want to collect/sell all your data," I think the big reason every app requires you to sign into an account (even if it doesn't really do anything) is so that you have to agree to all the "you can't sue us" T&Cs. Once they get you to click through that, they're home free.
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Re: How to infuriate, for less than $1 a day. (Score:2)
Great product idea, btw. Establish your company as the Apple of soo-soos... make it easier to use.
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A $1700 bassinet.
That's utter insanity. The only thing that even makes this possible is that there are fools out there who'll pay that much. They almost deserve to get scammed for being so foolish as to buy this expensive pile of crap.
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You’re telling me the household that can afford that are “infuriated” over a $10/month fee?
So you're saying.. If you are a Household that can afford an expensive car you have no right to get mad if I forcibly block your car from moving once a month until you pay me an extra $10 subscription for the privilege of using it that month? Keep in mind I'm just the company that sold you the car, and this monthly price was never displayed or mentioned at the time a sale was being made, and you p
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A $1700 bassinet. .. You’re telling me the household that can afford that are “infuriated” over a $10/month fee?
Are you rich if you go to the bank and borrow $1700 from the bank, since you don't have the money, to order a basinet for your new baby with the intention of reselling for $1600 in 3 months once the baby transitions to a crib, and thus the total budgeted cost of $100 plus interest expense of approximately $20?
The $10/Month fee amounts to $30 over 3 months and will cause y
Gee who could have seen this coming (Score:2, Interesting)
This was all 100% predictable and was predicted and inevitable, like the Honey browser extension thing (obviously a scan from day one). Corporations are going to suck you dumbasses in on obviously unsustainable promises of free [poop] and then turn the screws once you've had your free hit of the merchandise, and then you dumbasses are going to scream 'oh my god who could ever have seen this 100% predictable thing coming?!' Again, like the Honey thing.
So either need legislation to protect these f@#$ing dum
Re: Gee who could have seen this coming (Score:5, Funny)
The solution is obviously to stop having babies, which will hamper their business model, let alone any chance if growth.
Luckily, were all on Slashdot here...
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That's a toughie... I wonder if I can find someone tho sell one used. I could part it out and sell the rest.
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Re:Gee who could have seen this coming (Score:5, Insightful)
This was all 100% predictable and was predicted and inevitable, like the Honey browser extension thing (obviously a scan from day one).
Holy hind-sight batman. Sorry but there was nothing predictable or inevitable about this. There are literally countless cloud connected / smart devices which have been operating for many years without locking existing features behind subscription costs. That is the baseline standard people expect.
If this were so obvious it wouldn't be in the news.
But you've punked yourself by mentioning Honey. Not only was it not obviously a scan ([sic] did you digitse it from paper) from day one, but it took well over a year for the underlying scam to be discovered. It wasn't obvious for users who didn't diligently go through their browser URL affiliate code / cookies, it wasn't obvious for affiliates until they amassed a mountain of data that showed their profits dropped, and even then that data needed to be datamined to identify the reason.
But thankfully we have your genius here. Can you please provide tonight's lottery numbers along with a list of all upcoming scams for 2025? Common, do it for your friends here on Slashdot ;-)
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Holy hind-sight batman. Sorry but there was nothing predictable or inevitable about this.
If you look at how the world is changing, then yes, this was predictable and inevitable. It is why I buy NOTHING that is cloud connected if I can help it.
I fully expect my next vehicle purchase to be a vehicle that communicates regularly with the manufacturer with the option for government to seize control of the vehicle remotely and shut it down, possibly permanently.
Does that sound like a world that you want to live in? Thankfully, I don't have much longer, but other people that I care about will surely l
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If you look at how the world is changing, then yes, this was predictable and inevitable. It is why I buy NOTHING that is cloud connected if I can help it.
Only if you're a pessimistic psycho who hates everything. Again the practice of locking existing functionality behind a paywall is not only very recent, but also very limited to specific subset of devices - not the kind of purchasing decisions undertaken by say... a new mother.
Pretending that something is obvious simply because you were cynical enough to assume it correctly all the while gaslighting the entire general population doesn't make you clever, it makes you an arsehole. The point here isn't that yo
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This was all 100% predictable and was predicted and inevitable, like the Honey browser extension thing (obviously a scan from day one).
I saw the Honey extension and my gut knew it must somehow be a scam before I knew anything else about it.
I didn't know how the scam worked or who was getting screwed, but I was 99% sure it was a scam at some level. I just didn't know it was a scam at *every* level.
The American way, surely? (Score:5, Insightful)
The rest of the world is finding this is the way the USA is these days...they're always threatening the rest of the world when they don't get their way, or to squeeze extra money out of them.
Don't choose American.
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I was going to write a rant about out-of-control capitalism but you might be on to it, it's USA infecting the world.
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My sarcasm is clear, right?
Consumers need to take a stand (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: Consumers need to take a stand (Score:2)
A monthly fee for Netflix or Spotify makes sense -- you're renting a library far larger than you could hope to purchase outright.
A monthly fee to provide a feature or two for a product you've paid $1700 for is absurd.
People need to recognize the difference because subscriptions aren't going away, just sometimes they make sense and sometimes they're nothing but money grabs.
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They didn't buy something that required a subscription. It didn't require a subscription to begin with (but obviously was dependent upon the company's server). The company unilaterally changed the deal.
Re: Consumers need to take a stand (Score:2)
But it had Internet connectivity. Same thing.
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Everything will cost $1 a year (to start) (Score:2)
Legislation will only ensure that everything will require a subscription fee that can be increased in the future
Newsflash: IoT trash is trash! (Score:2)
Joolly jeepers gee wizz! Who would've thunk?
IoT hereby officially stands for Internet of Trash.
We should start using that term, to help get the message across to the normies.
Re: Newsflash: IoT trash is trash! (Score:2)
Not every IoT device is forcibly updated and enshitified in this way.
Only devices directly connected to the internet with closed source firmware are subject to this risk. My ESPHome devices are not. Neither are my Z-Wave devices.
I do have dozens of Wifi devices that are closed source . Over 50 Kasa smartplugs. TP link supports a local API . About 10 Philips wiz bulbs, with about 120 more on the way. Again, they support local control.
The only vendor that pulled a bait and switch and went from local only to c
Re: Newsflash: IoT trash is trash! (Score:2)
"Not every IoT device is forcibly updated"
Those are the ones that open you up to hacking.
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Forced updates is the not the same as no updates. I chose Unifi for my Wifi access points, for example, so that I could select the firmware that works best for my needs, and rollback when there are regressions, which unfortunately is inevitable when one has a triple digit number of devices from various vendors. This is something I could not do with other vendors, such as Netgear with Orbi, and having the mesh network just stop working in many rooms altogether, which happened on multiple occasions, with no w
Start Charging Subscription Fees for Babies (Score:2)
Must be rich babies, poor babies don't have credit cards.
buy to soothe your anxiety (Score:3)
Re:buy to soothe your anxiety (Score:4, Informative)
Best advice I ever got was from a nurse: "Don't get a motion sensor. They go off all the time and make you paranoid, and what are you going to do if there IS an emergency? Spend the money on an infant first aid course instead."
News? (Score:2)
Don't buy unnecessarily internet connected devices (Score:2)
Internet connected (Score:2)
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One of the riskiest and most costly things businesses do is to find customers to purchase their products, so it's good business to convert *purchases* into *subscriptions*. The fact that it's bad for consumers is neither here nor there, this is a zero sum game.
Consumers need regulatory protection. What this company is doing is (a) perfectly legal and (b) good business sense. Consumer backlash is no deterrent, because this is so clearly profitable it's ubiquitous. You might as well backlash against the i
Next step in the business plan... (Score:2)
The next step in their business plan is to cross-reference with the owners auto insurance or automaker's telemetry data and start detecting business trips, or abnormal work hours. Then demand $100 or the crib starts playing The Talking Heads "Stay Up All Night" at randomly around 3am...
I mean... Give up your privacy and stuff happens, right?
T
Bad decision (Score:3)
That said, just because something was/is very expensive, doesn't mean it's ok to extort the people who purchased it after the fact. I don't care if they can easily afford it, it's still extortion.
But here's the thing. I think they chose the wrong group of people to piss off. If someone can afford a $1700 bassinet, surely they can afford a lawyer to sue your ass, or at least tie you up in court for a pretty significant amount of time when you try to screw them over - and I hope that everyone who bought one of these bassinets does exactly that. It's the only way this bullshit ends.
Re: (Score:2)
But here's the thing. I think they chose the wrong group of people to piss off. If someone can afford a $1700 bassinet, surely they can afford a lawyer to sue your ass, or at least tie you up in court for a pretty significant amount of time when you try to screw them over - and I hope that everyone who bought one of these bassinets does exactly that. It's the only way this bullshit ends.
There is an easier way, just put people in charge who represent your interests. A federal agency could easily stop all of this, but you now need congress to write a law. The courts (extreme trump judges) will come in and strike down anything that they don't like.
Re: Bad decision (Score:2)
"coming equipped with an auto-feeder that prepares bottles for the baby, sticks the bottles in the baby's mouth for you, burps it, rocks it to sleep, and then changes its diaper afterwards"
branded as the Enhanced Autism Edition
Fuck This Economy (Score:2)
You don't own anything anymore.
Just stop buying it. I know it sucks...but they get away with this shit because people are too fucking materialistic to not do it. But with the current pro-corporate administration and the rollback of consumer laws...this is only going to get worse.
Both the government and the corporations are turning hostile. This is how every dystopian nightmare starts.
Duh, don't put random junk on the internet.. (Score:2)
Never a good idea. Eventually it will communicate with something that will start fucking shit up.
kitchen appliances, HP printers, water utilities, Windows servers, etc.
Re: (Score:2)
Never a good idea. Eventually it will communicate with something that will start fucking shit up.
kitchen appliances, HP printers, water utilities, Windows servers, etc.
Putting all manner of shit online kept fucking up bank accounts in a positive way. Thats why things as critical as public works end up online.
Why hire 10 people to monitor 10 waterworks when you can just hire one person to remotely monitor 10 internet-connected waterworks? That only costs something when Greed can’t socialize lawsuits through a taxpayer wallet.
There should be a button for this (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Australia has this law.
Full refund required. Serious fines if you refuse.
Good luck complaining to the FTC (Score:2)
America is great again, after all, and that means all heil our corporate overlords.
Next on the Louis Rossman HYGF program... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
When you buy a CCTV camera it's often not easy to work out if it's capable of operating standalone, or if it depends on an external service. Most users have no idea about this and end up unknowingly giving up their privacy.
Cameras which are completely standalone don't sell well because a lot of users are stuck behind CGNAT and would have no way to access them.
What's worse is a lot of these devices don't come with subscription fees, which means the service is funded some other way which could potentially be