This video covers the European Parliament public hearing on the European Citizens’ Initiative “Stop Destroying Videogames”, linked to "Stop Killing Games", h...
The main exception to this is device firmware and operating system images that require them (most visibly for smartphones), but the law in that case focused on demanding 5 years of software updates. IMO it doesn’t go far enough - they should also be forced to publish everything required for the community to pick up the support at EOL - but it’s not being ignored.
Not providing software updates isn’t the same thing as remotely disabling the software. Of course it is a major issue for smartphones, because it’s a massive security issue to not have an up-to-date OS, but it’s not the same issue SKG is campaigning on.
Without OS updates, apps gradually stop working and security goes down the drain. Nowadays this include apps required to interact with the state and basic services like banking. You can still do thing the old way, but it’s far less convinient.
I get where you’re coming from, but if we’re talking about some 6 year old budget smartphone or something, will there really be enough interest in maintaining the firmware? It seems just as likely that you’d be blowing the source code open for people looking for hacks.
The main exception to this is device firmware and operating system images that require them (most visibly for smartphones), but the law in that case focused on demanding 5 years of software updates. IMO it doesn’t go far enough - they should also be forced to publish everything required for the community to pick up the support at EOL - but it’s not being ignored.
Not providing software updates isn’t the same thing as remotely disabling the software. Of course it is a major issue for smartphones, because it’s a massive security issue to not have an up-to-date OS, but it’s not the same issue SKG is campaigning on.
Without OS updates, apps gradually stop working and security goes down the drain. Nowadays this include apps required to interact with the state and basic services like banking. You can still do thing the old way, but it’s far less convinient.
I get where you’re coming from, but if we’re talking about some 6 year old budget smartphone or something, will there really be enough interest in maintaining the firmware? It seems just as likely that you’d be blowing the source code open for people looking for hacks.