Post #1791625

2026-04-22 13:16 UTC

Not only games. Goes for all electronics as well. Sick of supporting your ‘old phones’? You’re required by law to disclose all binary blobs as source code to let somebody else pick it up the slack. Feeling like bricking old Kindles? Fine, but users must be able to install alternative OS on your old device. Not providing software updates for your TV anymore after you removed features? That’s your right, but so is the right of the effing device owner to install something else on it. And it’s not just consumer electronics. (caugh John Deere caugh).

Replies (2)

@JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 2026-04-22 13:44

Not to be pro-corporate/anti-repair…but I feel I have to play devils-advocate here… That sounds like a legal and security nightmare. If you just give binary blobs and no sources, there’s no way to maintain the code/device long term. As exploits continue to be found in upstream dependencies, the hardware continues to become increasingly insecure. But if the source needs to be released…I imagine that there are heaps of proprietary code that is still in use on “active” devices even after another model goes EoL…so if that code is released, there’s instantly thousands of nefarious eyes on it. On top of the regular zero-days that are found out when a popular product reaches EoL. I think that’s potentially a lot to ask of users. Will your technically-challenged great-Aunt switch to post-support build when her phone hits EoL, or will hackers be able to remote control her banking app and take away your inheritance before the community can even patch it (assuming there’s enough community support out there for an 8-year-old Galaxy A-series…) Then there could also be licensed code that would need to be released as well…hence the legal nightmare. Not saying it’s impossible…in fact, I greatly agree with your stance and stated position. Just saying that there are some blockers on this epic.

Open ##1791623
@cecilkorik@piefed.ca 2026-04-23 05:11

And the private encryption keys they use for DRM and bootloader locking too. I doubt that would go over well, but it needs to fucking happen. It is the only way to truly have right to repair and digital device ownership.

Open ##2093621