homeassistant

Why does your lightbulb need to connect to the internet at all? Automation does not require the cloud.

Until something is legislated, this will continue to the end-user's detriment.

I bought some Philips Hue bulbs In something like 2015 which have worked mostly fine ever since, but the control surface has become more and more intrusive over the years. I'm now relegating the bulbs to dumb use until they finally die.

It's a good feeling knowing that my basic non-internet connected car can't receive an OTA update to make me start paying a subscription to use something I already have just because the company decided they want more money.

I feel that at the very least, the customer in that case should be entitled to a complete refund of the product, regardless of whether they bought it 5 days or 5 years ago and regardless of the condition their device is in.

This should at least give some incentive to companies to not perform such sweeping changes to their terms of service and if they do, the customer can more easily remove themselves from the lock-in without taking a financial hit.