Other examples of proprietary malware
Nonfree (proprietary) software is very often malware (designed to mistreat the user). Nonfree software is controlled by its developers, which puts them in a position of power over the users; that is the basic injustice. The developers often exercise that power to the detriment of the users they ought to serve.
Tethering a product or program to a specific server is an injustice in itself. This page reports instances where tethering was used to harm the users directly.
If you know of an example that ought to be in this page but isn't here, please write to <webmasters@gnu.org> to inform us. Please include the URL of a trustworthy reference or two to present the specifics.
The game Metal Gear Rising for MacOS was tethered to a server. The company shut down the server, and all copies stopped working.
The Jawbone fitness tracker was tethered to a proprietary phone app. In 2017, the company shut down and made the app stop working. All the existing trackers stopped working forever.
The article focuses on a further nasty fillip, that sales of the broken devices continued. But I think that is a secondary issue; it made the nasty consequences extend to some additional people. The fundamental wrong was to design the devices to depend on something else that didn't respect users' freedom.
Logitech will sabotage all Harmony Link household control devices by turning off the server through which the products' supposed owners communicate with them.
The owners suspect this is to pressure them to buy a newer model. If they are wise, they will learn, rather, to distrust any product that requires users to talk with them through some specialized service.
Sony has brought back its robotic pet Aibo, this time with a universal back door, and tethered to a server that requires a subscription.
The Canary home surveillance camera has been sabotaged by its manufacturer, turning off many features unless the user starts paying for a subscription.
With manufacturers like these, who needs security breakers?
The purchasers should learn the larger lesson and reject connected appliances with embedded proprietary software. Every such product is a temptation to commit sabotage.
Bird and rabbit pets were implemented for Second Life by a company that tethered their food to a server. It shut down the server and the pets more or less died.
Anova sabotaged users' cooking devices with a downgrade that tethered them to a remote server. Unless users create an account on Anova's servers, their cookers won't function.
nVidia's proprietary GeForce Experience makes users identify themselves and then sends personal data about them to nVidia servers.
Adobe applications require periodic connection to a server.
The iMessage app on iThings tells a server every phone number that the user types into it; the server records these numbers for at least 30 days.
A half-blind security critique of a tracking app: it found that blatant flaws allowed anyone to snoop on a user's personal data. The critique fails entirely to express concern that the app sends the personal data to a server, where the developer gets it all. This “service” is for suckers!
The server surely has a “privacy policy,” and surely it is worthless since nearly all of them are.
Google/Alphabet intentionally broke Revolv home automatic control products that depended on a server to function, by shutting down the server. The lesson is, reject all such products. Insist on self-contained computers that run free software!