Mercedes Locks Faster Acceleration Behind a $1,200 Annual Paywall
Mercedes is the latest manufacturer to lock auto features behind a subscription fee, with an upcoming “Acceleration Increase” add-on that lets drivers pay to access motor performance their vehicle is already capable of. From a report: The $1,200 yearly subscription improves performance by boosting output from the motors by 20-24 percent, increasi … ⌘ Read more
@slashdot@feeds.twtxt.net Cars being more often an IoT hell was so easily accepted, that now they’re more and more becoming a DRM hell. Consumers should stop accepting the idea that they are not the owners of what they buy.
@slashdot@feeds.twtxt.net hmmm… After programmed obsolescence, limiting the lifespan of the products you buy, now with Subscription paywalls you get limits during the lifetime of your product.
So basically you are buying a restricted product, and most people can’t do anything due to a lack of options at reasonable prices… What can be done?
@slashdot@feeds.twtxt.net @eaplmx@twtxt.net we’re getting more limited in what we can do on a consumer level (boycotting is not always an option, for eg. all cars in the EU must have software, and no options exist in the market where it is free software), but beyond voting with the wallet, we can also vote in politics and policies, as much more can be done in a regulatory level. in Europe it is possible to protect users a bit from DRM, and we now want the right to install whatever we want on our devices, just to give a couple of examples.
@marado@twtxt.net yeah, obviously monetary interests shape the products availability and regulations are useful for control those interests. (Although my anarchist friends are not that happy of fighting companies with state power, but that’s another convo)
Recently I watched this video on Apple not replacing Lightning with USB-C, being the main reason licencing fees. And that only changes until EU requires it by law.
I worked for a few industries putting walls on the ecosystem, by design, and I think lack of competence makes it even harder. Mainly for B2C.
@slashdot@feeds.twtxt.net @eaplmx@twtxt.net Still to reply to the “what can be done?” question, here’s one thing: each of us can sign this open letter