Google's parent company is deliberately disabling some of its customers' old smart-home devices
http://www.businessinsider.com/googles-nest-closing-smart-home-company-revolv-bricking-devices-2016-4 Just over a month ago, Revolv updated its website to announce that it is closing down completely, pulling the plug on its existing products in May. "We're pouring all our energy into Works with Nest and are incredibly excited about what we're making," wrote Revolv founders Tim Enwall and Mike Soucie. "Unfortunately, that means we can't allocate resources to Revolv anymore and we have to shut down the service." Shutting down Revolv does not mean that Nest is ceasing to support its products, leaving them vulnerable to bugs and other unpatched issues. It means that the $300 devices and accompanying apps will stop working completely. As one customer puts it, Google parent company Alphabet is "intentionally bricking" the devices on May 15, 2016. - - - If this situation is actually as described, it is utterly unacceptable, particularly with just a couple of months notice. What a way to decimate user trust. --Lauren-- Lauren Weinstein ([email protected]): http://www.vortex.com/lauren Founder: - Network Neutrality Squad: http://www.nnsquad.org - PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com/privacy-info Co-Founder: People For Internet Responsibility: http://www.pfir.org/pfir-info Member: ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com Google+: http://google.com/+LaurenWeinstein Twitter: http://twitter.com/laurenweinstein Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800 / Skype: vortex.com I have consulted to Google, but I am not currently doing so -- my opinions expressed here are mine alone. _______________________________________________ pfir mailing list http://lists.pfir.org/mailman/listinfo/pfir
