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<title>Proprietary Tethers
- GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
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<h2>Proprietary Tethers</h2>
<div class="infobox">
<hr class="full-width" />
<p>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; <a
href="/philosophy/free-software-even-more-important.html">that is the
basic injustice</a>. The developers and manufacturers often exercise
that power to the detriment of the users they ought to serve.</p>
<p>This typically takes the form of malicious functionalities.</p>
<hr class="full-width" />
</div>
<div class="article">
<p>Tethering a product or program means designing it to work only by
communicating with a specific server. That is always an injustice
since it means you can't use the program without that server. It is
also a secondary injustice if you can't communicate with the server in
another way.</p>
<p>In some cases, tethering is used to do specific nasty things to the
users. This page reports instances where tethering was used to harm
the users directly.</p>
<div class="important">
<p>If you know of an example that ought to be in this page but isn't
here, please write
to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>
to inform us. Please include the URL of a trustworthy reference or two
to serve as specific substantiation.</p>
</div>
<div class="column-limit" id="proprietary-tethers"></div>
<ul class="blurbs">
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M202502280">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2025-02</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p><a
href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/02/on-may-5-microsofts-skype-will-shut-down-for-good/">
Microsoft is shutting down Skype</a> on May 5th, 2025. As with other
tethered proprietary programs, users have to rely on servers that are
controlled by the developer. When these servers shut down, the service
disappears. Instead of migrating to the service that Microsoft suggests
as a replacement, Skype users should regain control of their
communications by switching to one that is based on free software.
<a href="https://jitsi.org/jitsi-meet/">Jitsi Meet</a>, for example, is
appropriate for small video meetings. Anyone can set up a Jitsi server
and let other people use it, and indeed many of these are available
around the world.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M202411110">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2024-11</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>Ubisoft is facing a fraud lawsuit for <a
href="https://www.polygon.com/gaming/476979/ubisoft-the-crew-shut-down-lawsuit-class-action">
shutting down the proprietary video game The Crew, which was tethered
to its servers</a>. As this game can't be played offline, people who
used to think they owned a copy of it are now realizing they only
bought a license that could be revoked at will by the developer.</p>
<p>This is one more example of what tethering of a proprietary program
leads to. If The Crew were free software, its users would be able to
set up another server, and keep on playing.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M202401180.2">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2024-01</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p><a href="/proprietary/uhd-bluray-denies-your-freedom.html">UHD
Blu-ray disks are loaded with malware of the worst kinds</a>. Among other
things, they are encrypted with keys that must be retrieved from a remote
server. This makes repeated updates and internet connections a requirement
if the user purchases several UHD Blu-ray disks over time.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M202312060">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2023-12</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p><a
href="https://badcyber.com/dieselgate-but-for-trains-some-heavyweight-hardware-hacking/">Newag,
a Polish railway manufacturer, puts DRM inside trains to prevent
third-party repairs</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The train's software contains code to detect if the GPS
coordinates are near some third party repairers, or the train has not
been running for some time. If yes, the train will be “locked
up” (i.e. bricked). It was also possible to unlock it by
pressing a secret combination of buttons in the cockpit, but this
ability was removed by a manufacturer's software update.</p></li>
<li><p>The train will also lock up after a certain date, which is
hardcoded in the software.</p></li>
<li><p>The company pushes a software update that detects if the
DRM code has been bypassed, i.e. the lock should have been engaged
but the train is still operational. If yes, the controller cabin
screen will display a scary message warning about “copyright
violation”.</p></li>
</ul>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M202312040">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2023-12</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>Bungie's Destiny 2 is plagued with two major flaws:</p>
<ul>
<li>Like all proprietary tethered games, <a
href="https://destinytracker.com/destiny-2/articles/is-destiny-2-down-how-to-check-server-maintenance-and-downtime">
it can't be played when the company's servers are offline</a>.</li>
<li>Ever since Bungie chose BattlEye as an anti-cheat program,
Destiny 2 has been <a href="https://areweanticheatyet.com/">
incompatible with GNU/Linux</a> <small>[this page can't be viewed
without JavaScript]</small>. Bungie forces Steam Deck users
to <a href="https://www.pcguide.com/steam-deck/play-destiny-2/">
replace SteamOS with Windows, or play from Edge browser</a>.
This doesn't have to be so, as several other games that use BattlEye
do support GNU/Linux systems. Rather than doing the necessary
adjustments, Bungie forces users to run nonfree software in order to
keep an absolute control over them.</li>
</ul>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M202311100">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2023-11</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>In Australia, people assume that “smart”
means “tethered.” When people's ISP goes down, <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/10/optus-went-down-and-the-smart-lights-came-on-and-then-marayke-was-stranded-in-bed">
all the tethered devices become useless</a>.</p>
<p>That's in addition to the nasty things tethered devices do when
they are “functioning” normally—such as snoop on
the commands sent to the device and the results they report.</p>
<p>Smart <em>users</em> know better than to accept tethered
devices.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M202309270">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2023-09</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>Philips Hue, the most ubiquitous
home automation product in the US, is planning to soon <a
href="https://boingboing.net/2023/09/27/philips-hue-to-make-you-create-an-account-and-log-in-to-adjust-your-lightbulbs.html">
force users to log in to the app server</a> in order to be able to
adjust a lightbulb, or use other functionalities, in what amounts to
a massive user-tracking data grab.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M202309050">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2023-09</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>Google Nest snooper/surveillance cameras are always
tethered to Google servers, record videos 24/7, and are
<a href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/09/google-nest-cameras-get-a-25-33-subscription-price-hike/">
subscription-based, which is an injustice to people who
use them</a>. The article discusses the rise in prices for
“plans” you can buy from Google, which include storing
videos in the “cloud”—another word for someone
else's computer.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M202308220">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2023-08</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>Some Bambu Lab 3D printers were reported to <a
href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/08/3d-printers-print-break-on-their-own-due-to-cloud-outage/">
start printing without user's consent</a>, as a result of a malfunction
of the servers to which they were tethered. This caused significant
damage.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M202305040">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2023-05</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>Controlling Honeywell internet thermostats with the dedicated
app has proven unreliable, due to <a
href="https://piunikaweb.com/2022/03/15/honeywell-total-connect-comfort-app-website-not-working-issue/">
recurrent connection issues with the server these thermostats are
tethered to</a>.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M202201010">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2022-01</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>The legacy company that made
Blackberry phones is about to kill them off <a
href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/01/tech/blackberry-end-of-life/index.html">by
shutting down the server they are tethered to</a>.</p>
<p>If the software on those phones were free (as in freedom),
people could modify their software so they could talk to some other
server.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M202111200">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2021-11</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>Hundreds of Tesla drivers <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/nov/20/tesla-app-outage-elon-musk-apologises">were
locked out of their cars as a result of Tesla's app suffering from an
outage</a>, which happened because the app is tethered to the company's
servers.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M202007280">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2020-07</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>The Focals eyeglass display, with snooping
microphone, has been eliminated. Google eliminated
it by buying the manufacturer and shutting it down. It also <a
href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/canadian-smart-glasses-going-offline-weeks-after-company-bought-by-google-1.5042010">shut
href="https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/article/canadian-smart-glasses-going-offline-weeks-after-company-bought-by-google/">shut
down the server these devices depend on</a>, which caused the ones
already sold to cease to function.</p>
<p>It may be a good thing to wipe out this product—for
“smart,” read “snoop”—but Google
didn't do that for the sake of privacy. Rather, it was eliminating
competition for its own snooping product.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M202007270">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2020-07</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>The Mellow sous-vide cooker is
tethered to a server. The company suddenly <a
href="https://www.slashgear.com/mellow-sous-vide-owners-get-unwelcome-subscription-surprise-27630842/">
href="https://www.slashgear.com/mellow-sous-vide-owners-get-unwelcome-subscription-surprise-28630842/">
turned this tethering into a subscription</a>, forbidding users from
taking advantage of the “advanced features” of the cooker
unless they pay a monthly fee.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M202005070">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2020-05</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>Wink sells a “smart” home hub that is tethered
to a server. In May 2020, it ordered the purchasers to start <a
href="https://www.techhive.com/article/3542631/wink-users-revolt-following-its-sudden-shift-to-a-subscription-model.html">
href="https://www.techhive.com/article/578539/wink-users-revolt-following-its-sudden-shift-to-a-subscription-model.html">
paying a monthly fee for the use of that server</a>. Because of the
tethering, the hub is useless without that.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M201909061">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2019-09</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>Best Buy made controllable appliances and <a
href="https://www.theverge.com/2019/9/6/20853671/best-buy-connect-insignia-smart-plug-wifi-freezer-mobile-app-shutdown-november-6">
shut down the service to control them through</a>.</p>
<p>While it is laudable that Best
<p>Best Buy recognized acknowledged that it was mistreating
the its customers by
doing so, this doesn't alter and offered reimbursement of the facts affected appliances. The
fact remains, however, that tethering the a device to a particular server is a path to screwing the
users, and that it is a consequence way
of having restricting and harassing users. The nonfree software in the
device.</p>
device is what stops users from cutting the tether.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M201904260">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2019-04</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>The Jibo robot toys were tethered to the manufacturer's server,
and <a href="https://www.apnews.com/99c9ec8ebad242ca88178e22c7642648"> href="https://apnews.com/article/san-francisco-north-america-technology-business-ap-top-news-99c9ec8ebad242ca88178e22c7642648">
the company made them all cease to work</a> by shutting down that
server.</p>
<p>The shutdown might ironically be good for their users, since the
product was designed to manipulate people by presenting a phony
semblance of emotions, and was most certainly spying on them.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M201904040">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2019-04</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>Ebooks “bought” from Microsoft's store check that
their DRM is valid by connecting to the store every time their
“owner” wants to read them. Microsoft is going to close
this store, <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-47810367">
bricking all DRM'ed ebooks it has ever “sold”</a>. (The
article additionally highlights the pitfalls of DRM.)</p>
<p>This is another proof that a DRM-encumbered product doesn't belong
to the person who bought it. Microsoft said it will refund customers,
but this is no excuse for selling them restricted books.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M201903250">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2019-03</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>The British supermarket Tesco sold tablets which were tethered
to Tesco's server for reinstalling default settings. Tesco <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/mar/25/tesco-hudl-tablet-support-kill-fix">
turned off the server for old models</a>, so now if you try to
reinstall the default settings, it bricks them instead.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M201809260">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2018-09</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>Honeywell's “smart” thermostats communicate
only through the company's server. They have
all the nasty characteristics of such devices: <a
href="https://www.businessinsider.com/honeywell-iot-thermostats-server-outage-2018-9">
surveillance, and danger of sabotage</a> (of a specific user, or of
all users at once), as well as the risk of an outage (which is what
just happened).</p>
<p>In addition, setting the desired temperature requires running
nonfree software. With an old-fashioned thermostat, you can do it
using controls right on the thermostat.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M201807050">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2018-07</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>The Jawbone fitness tracker was tethered to a proprietary phone
app. In 2017, the company shut down and made the app stop working. <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/05/defunct-jawbone-fitness-trackers-kept-selling-after-app-closure-says-which">All
the existing trackers stopped working forever</a>.</p>
<p>The article focuses on a further nasty fillip, that sales of the
broken devices continued. But we 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.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M201806250">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2018-06</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>The game Metal Gear Rising for
MacOS was tethered to a server. The company <a
href="http://www.gamerevolution.com/news/400087-metal-gear-rising-mac-unplayable-drm">
href="https://www.gamerevolution.com/news/400087-metal-gear-rising-mac-unplayable-drm">
shut down the server, and all copies stopped working</a>.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M201711080">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2017-11</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>Logitech will sabotage
all Harmony Link household control devices by <a
href="https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/11/logitech-to-shut-down-service-and-support-for-harmony-link-devices-in-2018/">
turning off the server through which the products' supposed owners
communicate with them</a>.</p>
<p>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.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M201711010">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2017-11</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>Sony has brought back its robotic pet Aibo, this time <a
href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/bj778v/sony-wants-to-sell-you-a-subscription-to-a-robot-dog-aibo-90s-pet">
with a universal back door, and tethered to a server that requires
a subscription</a>.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M201710040.1">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2017-10</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>The Canary home surveillance
camera has been sabotaged by its manufacturer, <a
href="https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/10/4/16426394/canary-smart-home-camera-free-service-update-change">
turning off many features unless the user starts paying for a
subscription</a>.</p>
<p>With manufacturers like these, who needs security breakers?</p>
<p>The purchasers should learn the larger lesson and reject connected
appliances with embedded proprietary software. Every such product is
a temptation to commit sabotage.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M201710040">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2017-10</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>Every “home security” camera, if its
manufacturer can communicate with it, is a surveillance device. <a
href="https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/10/4/16426394/canary-smart-home-camera-free-service-update-change">
Canary camera is an example</a>.</p>
<p>The article describes wrongdoing by the manufacturer, based on
the fact that the device is tethered to a server.</p>
<p><a href="/proprietary/proprietary-tethers.html">More about
proprietary tethering</a>.</p>
<p>But it also demonstrates that the device gives the company
surveillance capability.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M201708310">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2017-08</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>The recent versions of Microsoft Office require the user to <a
href="https://products.office.com/en-us/microsoft-office-for-home-and-school-faq?legRedir=true&CorrelationId=c9c5b549-11ad-4f71-bf81-b7e069fdb372">
href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/microsoft-365-for-home-and-school-faq?legRedir=true&CorrelationId=c9c5b549-11ad-4f71-bf81-b7e069fdb372">
connect to Microsoft servers at least every thirty-one
days</a>. Otherwise, the software will refuse to edit any documents
or create new ones. It will be restricted to viewing and printing.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M201705180">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2017-05</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>Bird and rabbit pets were implemented for Second
Life by a company that tethered their food to a server. <a
href="https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2017/05/19/second-life-ozimals-pet-rabbits-dying">
href="https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/second-life-ozimals-pet-rabbits-dying">
It shut down the server and the pets more or less died</a>.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M201704120">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2017-04</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>Anova sabotaged users' cooking devices
with a downgrade that tethered them to a remote server. <a
href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170415145520/https://consumerist.com/2017/04/12/anova-ticks-off-customers-by-requiring-mandatory-accounts-to-cook-food/">Unless
users create an account on Anova's servers, their cookers won't
function</a>.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M201611070">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2016-11</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>nVidia's proprietary GeForce Experience <a
href="http://www.gamersnexus.net/industry/2672-geforce-experience-data-transfer-analysis">makes
href="https://www.gamersnexus.net/industry/2672-geforce-experience-data-transfer-analysis">makes
users identify themselves and then sends personal data about them to
nVidia servers</a>.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M201609280">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2016-09</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>The iMessage app on iThings <a
href="https://theintercept.com/2016/09/28/apple-logs-your-imessage-contacts-and-may-share-them-with-police/">tells
a server every phone number that the user types into it</a>; the
server records these numbers for at least 30 days.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M201607280">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2016-07</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>A half-blind security critique of a tracking app: it found that <a
href="http://www.consumerreports.org/mobile-security-software/glow-pregnancy-app-exposed-women-to-privacy-threats/">
href="https://www.consumerreports.org/mobile-security-software/glow-pregnancy-app-exposed-women-to-privacy-threats-a1100919965/">
blatant flaws allowed anyone to snoop on a user's personal data</a>.
The critique fails entirely to express concern that the app sends the
personal data to a server, where the <em>developer</em> gets it all.
This “service” is for suckers!</p>
<p>The server surely has a “privacy policy,” and surely
it is worthless since nearly all of them are.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M201604050">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2016-04</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>Revolv is a device that managed “smart home”
operations: switching lights, operate motion sensors, regulating
temperature, etc. Its proprietary software depends on a remote server
to do these tasks. On May 15th, 2016, Google/Alphabet <a
href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/04/nest-reminds-customers-ownership-isnt-what-it-used-be">intentionally
broke it by shutting down the server</a>.</p>
<p>If it were free software, users would have the ability to make it
work again, differently, and then have a freedom-respecting home
instead of a “smart” home. Don't let proprietary software
control your devices and turn them into $300 out-of-warranty
bricks. Insist on self-contained computers that run free software!</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M201603060">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2016-03</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>Electronic Arts <a
href="https://techraptor.net/gaming/news/darkspore-servers-shut-down">made
one of its games permanently unplayable</a> by shutting down its
servers. This game was heavily reliant on the company's servers,
and because the software is proprietary, users can't modify it to
make it connect to some other server. If the game were free, people
could still play what they purchased.</p>
</li>
<!-- Copied from workshop/mal.rec. Do not edit in proprietary-tethers.html. -->
<li id="M201305100">
<!--#set var="DATE" value='<small class="date-tag">2013-05</small>'
--><!--#echo encoding="none" var="DATE" -->
<p>Adobe applications <a
href="https://www.wired.com/2013/05/adobe-creative-cloud-petition/">
require periodic connection to a server</a>.</p>
</li>
</ul>
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