Vizio exec: we'd have to charge a premium on "dumb" TVs to make up for the money we'll lose by not spying on you

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[–]magnora7 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Yes it is similar to cars now that have all these complex engine covers to deter people from working on their own vehicles. I think things should be designed to be easily serviceable, but apparently this isn't as profitable.

Black-boxing things in a way that they're inaccessible for service creates "secret knowledge" that can be leveraged for profit by the repair industries, or by the company selling you a new model because it costs more to repair the old one than buy a new one. Companies know this and use it to the max.

In a true fair market, these bad business practices would eventually put them out of business. But in this modern world of shifting technology, monopolies, and how easy it is for a company to pull a scam and merely re-brand with a new name... this type of obfuscation is apparently highly profitable since it seems almost every big company is doing it.

[–]JasonCarswell 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Have blind faith in SCIENCE !

A paragraph I wrote for Wikipedia...

" Open science uses the scientific method as a process of open discovery of shared verifiable knowledge, whereas proprietary science is privately developed by corporations and organizations yet their "scientific" processes and research are not publicly shared (or are obscured behind paywalls or published in expensive private journals), therefore unverifiable as legitimate forcing the public to have "faith" in their privatized science and "trust" that rigorous studies have been and are conducted, proper precautions taken, adequate warnings given, and that the results are beneficial to individuals, society, and the environment - as well as serving their private shareholders. Further, we are supposed to "believe" all of the profit driven marketing, media hype, and propaganda, not to mention the political lobbyists (a soft term for legalized bribery), and trust we are getting the best technology, drugs, medical care, and environmental stewardship while corporate monopolies safely and honestly earn their profits in a world where corporate corruption and status quo war profiteering are business as usual. This obscured or blind faith in corporate science is called Scientism. "

Applications: food, big pharma, medicine, technology, products, government, climate...