Cyber Activism ✊

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freedomPusher@sopuli.xyz

🥊White goods have joined the IoS shit-show & are subject to anti-repair anti-consumer tactics 📣 Stop buying them. Dumpster dive. (sopuli.xyz)

submitted 1 month ago by freedomPusher@sopuli.xyz to c/cyber_activism@sopuli.xyz

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The problem: white goods (e.g. washing machines) are going further into the enshitification direction. The Internet of Shit is becoming unavoidable for new appliances. Your washing machine will likely depend on Internet and connect to a server that tracks your usage.

For the past 20 years or so they already have kill switches where they refuse to function if an error occurs. The manufacturer conceals from consumers the procedure to reverse the kill switch. So even if you can fix your machine, you can’t.

The fix:

Stop supporting the motherfuckers. When your machine breaks down, try to fix it. If you fix it mechanically but the kill switch blocks you from starting it again, don’t repeat the same stupid decision to buy a new one.

Instead, wash your clothes by hand until you find a dumped machine. Then fix the dumped machine, if you can. If it has a spinning drum, give it a hand spin and make sure the ball bearings are good before going further because they have made those irreplacable in recent decades. Repeat as needed.

If you’re just starting out and have not had a machine previously, don’t make the stupid decision of buying a machine that is made to exploit you. Look for a dumped one and own that shit.

Hand-washing isn’t as bad as bending over and and helping the predatory motherfuckers eat your soul. If you want easier hand-washing, buy a washboard from Ohio (USA); those probably never break down. Or this repairable machine from India \url{www.thewashingmachineproject.org}.

“But my addiction to convenience is too overbearing - I must buy”

Try this before you do that:

Find the model you would normally buy.
Write to the manufacturer and falsely state that you have that model and ask for the service manual (not the user manual), and ask for the software reset procedure. Or call them but be ready to give them a fake story of breakage to legitimise your request.
Watch as the mfr ignores you, evades, or tells you to fuck off and buy a new machine.

You will not get the svc manual from the manufacturer. Still feel like buying it after knowing how they treat customers after they think you bought their product?

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[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

My washer and dryer are both 27 years old. I've repaired both a few times. If it gets to the point that I can't get parts for them, I can wash by hand. It's just me, and I only do one load every two weeks. I could also use the laundromat, I did that for a few years before I got the machines.

But, I can see how a family of four would very much want a washing machine.

Unfortunately, people will continue to bend over, and generation after generation these things will continue to get worse until they're basically useless--only lasting a year. I don't know what people will do when that becomes the norm.

The water heater I got with the house lasted 20 years. I replaced it with one with a six-year warranty, it started leaking right on schedule. I just replaced it a month ago with one with a 12-year warranty, I'll be surprised if it lasts that long.

[–] freedomPusher@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 month ago

At that age (27 yrs), I suppose your machines don’t have kill switches. Your next machine will have a kill switch, so even though you can fix it mechanically, the control board will deny you the privilege to start a wash program.

[–] turdas@suppo.fi 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Not to defend garbage business practices, but hand washing REALLY sucks though. Like, have you ever actually tried it? There's a reason in the olden times before washing machines, doing laundry by hand was literally a dedicated job and not a good one.

There are still "dumb" washing machines for sale, and also ones that aren't completely unrepairable (though a lot of backsliding has happened on that front), so you should just buy one of those instead. This is a systemic problem and the solution to systemic problems is legislation, not personal responsibility.

[–] freedomPusher@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Not to defend garbage business practices, but hand washing REALLY sucks though.

That’s exactly why they get away with it. People’s intolerance for inconvenience is directly proportional to the level of enshitification suppliers can get away with.

I have been washing my clothes by hand for a year now to ensure that I am on the right side of the curve. I wash my much clothes with much less frequency now and do more airing out.

This is a systemic problem and the solution to systemic problems is legislation, not personal responsibility.

We don’t live in the kind of reality where your proposal works. The jurisdiction where legislation is the most viable on the world stage would be Europe. Europe decided against it. “Ecodesign” and right to repair are a shit-show after a 10-year attempt. Have a look at this thread:

https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/46422830

It’s just like the climate problem. You cannot sit back and expect the state to fix it. Hence the existence of Extinction Rebellion. The problem needs both state action and people taking personal responsibility.

Europe has gone as far as to make consumers immune to prosecution for reverse engineering their own property (IIRC). But that’s as far as they go. So effectively, the Polish train hacking approach is allowed but Europe is helpless as far as obligating suppliers to share repair info with amateur repairers (only pros).

People outside of Europe are fucked even more.

[–] FunctionallyLiterate@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Not having had one like that, do they come with their own cellular connection? Otherwise, why would you even give it the password to your network?

[–] freedomPusher@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 month ago

Are you asking how the kill switch is triggered? It’s an autonomous algorithmic kill switch not a remote kill switch. When the machine detects a fault it switches to a broken mode. The switch can only be reset by someone who the manufacturer trusted with the reset procedure (ie. their own repairers who charge more than the machine is worth just to show up).