Why console makers can legally brick your game console
Why console makers can legally brick your game console
arstechnica.com
Why console makers can legally brick your game console
9 comments
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"Legally", let's leave that to my country's judges
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"Although users own the hardware, the software that's needed to run it is subject to a license agreement," attorney Jon Loiterman told Ars. "If you violate the license terms, Nintendo has the right to revoke your access to that software. It's less common for software makers to revoke access to software in a way that disables hardware you bought from them, but the principle is the same."
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i guess that sort of makes sense, like if you're hacking the thing to install your own software, Nintendo says "have fun outside but you can't come back to our garden".
But it also doesn't because Nintendo has the power to remove functionality that I already paid them for. Even if I tinker with my device, why does that mean that I can never go back to the stock Switch experience that I paid for?
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They refer to Sony's ToS:
If SIE Inc determines that you have violated this Agreement's terms, SIE Inc may itself or may procure the taking of any action to protect its interests such as disabling access to or use of some or all System Software, disabling use of this PS5 system online or offline, termination of your access to PlayStation Network, denial of any warranty, repair or other services provided for your PS5 system, implementation of automatic or mandatory updates or devices intended to discontinue unauthorized use, or reliance on any other remedial efforts as reasonably necessary to prevent the use of modified or unpermitted use of System Software.
Although I've never heard of any reports of that, and I'd love to see it tested in a courtroom. Deliberately bricking someone else's hardware because YOU believe for some reason that they're not using it properly is on a whole other level than just disabling online accounts. It's vindictive.
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That's a very different privilege, one that is in direct contradiction to the consumer's right to repair
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9 comments
I’m guessing the answer is ✨capitalism✨
Isn't it always?
Not always, if the headline is “How do we stop (insert capitalism-caused problem)?” Then the answer is revolution.