this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2025
82 points (100.0% liked)

Technology

38082 readers
348 users here now

A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.

Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
alyaza@beehaw.org
TheRtRevKaiser@beehaw.org
gyrfalcon@beehaw.org
rs5th@beehaw.org
coldredlight@beehaw.org
SemioticStandard@beehaw.org
TheRtRevKaiser@kbin.social
remington@beehaw.org
82
German thermostat company Tado locks previously free app behind fake paywall, claiming it's "marketing tests" (www.youtube.com)
submitted 1 day ago by Crotaro@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org
11 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

A more detailed article on this issue can be found here.

Basically, the "Basic" app functions of this thermostat control were free until, a short while ago, users were greeted by a notification, telling them they would need to pay a 1€/month subscription from now on. Only once you had already entered your payment details and clicked through the payment process, would you be told "lol jk, it was just a social experiment".

As a German who was taught all the dark times of our nation in school, I can confidently say that us causing the second War To End All Wars is almost as bad as this company's behaviour.

Obvious hyperbole aside, this is despicable and practices like these must be stomped into extinction like a carelessly tossed cigarette, lest other companies pick up on it and make the world a worse place for everyone but themselves.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] jarfil@beehaw.org 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (1 children)

These shenanigans are likely illegal in the EU:

  • All products have to offer a minimum of 2 years of warranty, including access to online services on the same terms as sold. If they can't afford 2 years of servers, then they shouldn't've made the basic service free from the beginning.
  • Collecting excessive personal data (not personally identifiable, just personal) without prior approval by the user, like data about whether a user would pay or not, is a GDPR violation.

If people got serious, they'd be looking at some lawsuits and fines.

[–] Crotaro@beehaw.org 1 points 12 hours ago

True, true. We literally omly have a wood furnace, so are absolutely not affected by this, but I'll see how reporting potential GDPR violations in the name of someone else works.