this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2025

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Will online only "Device Activation" become the norm for every device in the future? / Will everything require an app in the future? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

27 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I mean, it used to only Apple products. But now Windows is trying to force an online activation (I know theres a bypass CMD command, but still... they could remove it in the future).

Android phones, while do no require "Activation" are arealy trying to nudge you into connecting to the internet and making an account.

Some OEMs are trying to get you to make an account with them.

I could see a future where some OEMs are starting for force you to go online before the device can be used, or just outright done for every Android device if its Google wanting that to happen.

The most popular Drone manufacturer, DJI, requires online activation. Same with the second leading one, Autel. (Cheaper brands don't require them, but those drones suck).

If you want to install a security cameras, most of them will require an app 🤮 (they do know that web-browser interface, such as 192.168.1.1 for routers, exists, right? they could just set up a similar thing for those cameras... oh yea thats right, they want to harvest data, thats why the app). And some, especially those "Ring" types, require an account (I haven't used them, correct me if I'm wrong).

How long before everything is "CONNECT YOUR WIFI" or "DOWNLOAD THE APP".

Like what next? Do car makers just get rid of the fob all together and be like "DOWNLOAD APP" and use that to open doors and ignition? House door being "Use the App to unlock door"?

🤔

(Are be going towards a technological dystopia?)

🤔🤔🤔

(Oh btw, cars now have this GPS thing. Dealers getting excited like "DOWNLOAD OUR APP" to instantly track your car's location, and know the tire pressures and everything, and remote start. I'm like... all that is available through an app?... seems like a security/privacy nightmare. Whats stops a crazy ex from knowing where you are? I don't even drive btw, was with parents at the dealership to translate, parents did not seem worried about the privacy concerns... 🤷‍♂️)

top 27 comments

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[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It is the norm right now already.

The only way out is specifically buying only products that don't do this shit, or ones that have been jailbroken and run open source software.

But the very best way to stop it all for good is to kill online advertisement. Online advertisement is the number one reason companies want your data to begin with. Go to your grandma's house, install adblock origin and sponsorblock.

When you have kids. Disable the google play store and install fdroid, and install an adblocker on their chromium of gecko browser. Replace all default apps with the fdroid alternatives.

Get the oldest raspberry pi device and install Pihole, then make it your DNS service so all lan and WiFi data runs through your adblocker.

Donate to open source projects, brag to your friends how your apps have no ads and no tracking.

Fight for right to privacy and right to repair. Stop using google, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Meta.

Use Linux instead of Windows. If you need windows, run it in a virtual machine without internet access.

Use grapheneOS, LineageOS, CalyxOS instead of basic Android.

As for home systems like security cameras, I suggest following the ultimate open source guide by Louis Rossmann.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

I gave a friend a raspberry pi a while ago and just this last week they asked me to come and set it up with Pihole for them. They're very happy to not have ads on their TV anymore. The only hiccup has been that their network connected cat litterbox (lol) doesn't tell them when the cat has pooped anymore.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 16 hours ago

If the Pihole is catching and blocking it, it is possible to have it trigger a script that for example registers a push notification. Since they have a Pihole, they could also run a self-hosted push notification service on the same device if they don't want to use the Google or Apple Push notification systems.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

I was looking around for new monitors and many are “smart now too” so you can watch Netflix. I dunno, but I already have a device attached which can do that much better, and more!

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yes but ONLY because people keep buying the shit. People vote with their wallets. If people would stop buying it companies would stop doing it.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Voting with your wallet is still limited to the available options.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I would disagree. If I just don’t buy anything and don’t say anything, you’re right that’s not voting. But if I go into just for example, a car dealership, I noticed that all the cars have subscription fees on them and then I tell the general manager that the reason I’m not buying is because of the subscription fee. That is voting.

The same goes for a stereo receiver. If I walk into Best Buy to buy one, and I noticed they’ll have subscription fees, and I tell the general manager of Best Buy that I’m not buying because of this that is voting.

If I call up Denon or Yamaha or or one of the other companies I say hey do you have a receiver that doesn’t have a subscription? And then they tell me no theyall do I tell them well then I just won’t buy any of them that is voting.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

Good luck speaking to the general manager when you're not buying anything, the staff will laugh you out the door

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

I have.

Edit : on multiple occasions

[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If I call up Denon or Yamaha or or one of the other companies I say hey do you have a receiver that doesn’t have a subscription? And then they tell me no theyall do I tell them well then I just won’t buy any of them that is voting.

rofl

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

You laugh, but as a business owner, if I have people tell me they won't buy because of x, and i am watching customer after customer walk out empty handed.... I'd be an idiot to not fix the problem.

So how is that not voting?

If people as a whole would do this how does it not fix the problem?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

There are a couple of problems with this logic and it's why regulations are critical to a functioning world.

Frequently people need something today(ish) and don't have the luxury to wait. Food is a great example, but depending on the person/entity most things can end up being urgent (like I need a laptop today for work/school)
No one knows the ins/outs of every industry. While Lemmys more technical users can see the issues with so many accounta/subscriptions, that doesn't mean the general public does.

Its certainly more nuanced than that, but that's just a quick breakdown of the challenges of voting with your wallet.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Food is a bad example because it will never have a subscription fee on it.

The point of my post was if there’s any way reasonably that you can get around not buying it, then just don’t buy it.

That’s why I chose a microwave. Do you really have to have a microwave? Not really

do you really have to have a TV to watch TV? No you don’t have to watch TV.

Do You really have to have an electronic alarm clock? No.

Headphones same thing, ..

Are there instances where you might not have any choice? Yeah of course. But the vast majority of purchases do not fall in that category. That’s my point. If there is a realistic way to not buy something then don’t.

Car is a great example: do you really have to buy a NEW car? No. You are choosing to buy a new car. There’s used cars out there.

Don’t need to know the ins and outs of every industry. Just ask a couple of simple questions: does this have a subscription fee? Do I really have absolutely no other choice but to buy this item?

Not sure why that would be tough for people to ask.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

If you want to limit consumer decisions to subscription vs no-subscriptions than sure, but subscriptions are just one element of the choices people have to make.

You also have issues like data privacy, ethical labor, maintainability, etc. Too many things for everyone to keep up with and effectively vote with their wallet.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago

All of those things are important, and no, we don’t have to fix them all at the same time, but let’s fix one of them. choose , which one do you wanna fix first. Then let’s start working on it. That is true if we try to tell the average person out there to work on all these, it’s too much it’s overwhelming. They’re not gonna try but if we focus Then there’s possibility.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 23 hours ago

Are you a giant multinational corporation?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sort of true.

Ex: my dvd player broke and the only replacement is an always on player worth a subscription fee. Do I really have to have a new player? No

Can I go do something other than watching movies? Yes

Is it going to mean I’m going to be homeless or lose my job of I don’t have one? No

Then leave it on the shelf.

Microwave: do I need to have one? No. We went for thousands of years without one. Leave it on until shelf.

Alarm clock… go to a pawn shop and find one that is older. There is no reason to buy one with a subscription fee. Your grandma might have an old mechanical one. Leave it on the shelf

Refrigerator might be a hard one to get around, but look for one without the sub fee or the always on concept.

Stereo receiver look for an older one or go without. Leave it on the shelf. If there is a subscription fee leave it

Ask yourself: is there a way around not having it. If there is then go without if needed.

TV breaks: well if they all have subscription fees then say f it and done buy a new one.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Choosing not to buy anything at all isn't voting with your wallet, because you didn't vote for something else.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

This isn't a democracy where a company can win if it only has a single buyer.

If the company in question doesn't get your money, you've "voted against them with your wallet".

You might be getting caught up in the literal semantics of the metaphor.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Reminder that Cable and Broadcast TV are the same quality now, so if you (or your parents) watch TV, you can set up a box that just connects to the HDMI port and captures everything. It even gets metadata so you can see what channel the best stuff is on, like PBS kids. Total cost is around 100-200$ and after that it's free.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)

My parents watch videos from Wechat lol (🤔)

And sometimes Youtube too, but since google is now getting so aggressive and Newpipe breaks all the time, and I'm not about to get blamed if they can't watch their Chinese drama shows on Youtube. (I don't want to become "free tech support" lol)

Personally, all my Movies/TV are all through piratebay over VPN, and use VLC.

Youtube is just Firefox/Fennec + uBlock Origin (and VPN for privacy)

Nobody watches "TV" anymore, why do that when I can use a computer/laptop and watch whatever I want in any room in the house that I choose to be in, or use my phone and watch on the go. The TV in my house is like 15 years old, it's just in the living room collecting dust. I probably would never get a "TV" in my life time.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

Improves data tracking and increases the odds they can sell you services, which is money they love because it’s consistent and predictable income.

Also means you get drawn into their “ecosystem” and the deeper you get into it the harder it is to move to a competitors. If you have $4,000 worth of iphone apps and in app purchases it’s much harder to switch to android. You can migrate bookmarks, password databases, calendars, message histories (not imessage lmao), etc but you can’t migrate proprietary apps and services

big tech has been anti consumer for decades and while apple is a big issue now 90s and early 2000s microsoft was the driving force in making sure open standards and interoperability was quashed at every opportunity. US government had endless chances to regulate the industry but incompetent politicians did nothing because they were completely ignorant and corrupt (shocker)

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

Yes, but everything can be hacked. I foresee a vibrant underground scene for such things.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Anyone got good suggestions for affordable cameras that don't require an app?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 18 hours ago

I've had good experience with amcrest cameras. Most you can activate locally, and have rtsp.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

I've heard a lot of good things about reolink cameras on self hosting communities. But anything that supports rtsp will likely be ok.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

Escooters from Xiaomi also have this stupid requirement