FTC: Most smart device makers are breaking the law by not informing consumers of software support terms

Companies would rather drop support on old products and then sell you a new one

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In context: For consumers using a variety of smart home gadgets, there's nothing more infuriating than spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on products rendered unusable or left with limited functionality after software support ends. Companies sometimes offer subscription fees for continued support, essentially holding functionality hostage.

In September, representatives from iFixit, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Consumer Reports sent a letter to Samuel Levine, director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, and Serena Viswanathan, the FTC's Division of Advertising Practices associate director. The letter pointed out the prevalence of anti-consumer practices among smart device manufacturers and their effect on people's ability to truly own the devices they purchase.

A new FTC study found that many companies developing and selling smart gadgets fail to disclose the length of support service for those products. After examining 184 devices across 64 product categories, the agency found that only 11.3 percent shared information about the software support duration on their product page.

Most of those devices – 89 percent – failed to feature this information prominently on the manufacturers' websites or any material related to the products. Considering how easy it should be to find details online about the end date for software updates, the agency couldn't find anything at all for 124 of the devices included in the study. It also noted that search features like Google's AI Overviews make this even more challenging for the average consumer, as the results are often wrong or misleading.

The FTC warns that, for products with written warranties and costing $15 or more, failing to disclose this crucial information violates the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act. Additionally, the agency found that even when some information about software support is available, the language is ambiguous and misleading.

Phrases like "continuous software updates," "lifetime technical support," and "as long as your device is fully operational" were found in product-related materials that were sometimes at odds with reality. For instance, one device featured "lifetime support" on its product page but had not issued any security updates since 2021. Another device with a similar promise on the product page showed support ends in 2028 in a different section of the website.

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The findings confirm the need for what the consumer rights groups advocated for in their letter to the FTC. They say new rules for smart device manufacturers would give consumers a better understanding of how long their internet-connected gadgets should work, thus allowing them to make an informed decision. It would also enforce competition between OEMs to design longer-lasting devices.