this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2023

194 points (94.5% liked)

Fuck Subscriptions

3671 readers

1 users here now

Naming and shaming all "recurring spending models" where a one-time fee (or none at all) would be appropriate and logical.

Expect use of strong language.

Follow the basic rules of lemmy.world and common sense, and try to have fun if possible.

No flamewars or attacking other users, unless they're spineless corporate shills.

Note that not all subscriptions are awful. Supporting your favorite ~~camgirl~~ creator or Lemmy server on Patreon is fine. An airbag with subscription is irl Idiocracy-level dystopian bullshit.

New community rule: Shilling for cunty corporations, their subscriptions and other anti-customer practices may result in a 1-day ban. It's so you can think about what it's like when someone can randomly decide what you can and can't use, based on some arbitrary rules. Oh what, you didn't read this fine print? You should read what you're agreeing to.

==========

Some other groovy communities for those who wish to own their products, their data and their life:

Right to Repair/Ownership

Hedges Development

DeGoogle Yourself

Stallman Was Right

Some other useful links:

FreeMediaHeckYeah

Louis Rossman's YouTube channel

Look at content hosted at Big Tech without most of the nonsense:

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

194

From Reddit: A treadmill that requires an online account, with a strict password requirement, and requires you to re-login every 24 hours (reddit.com)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by WhoRoger to c/fucksubscriptions

26 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I don't know if it has a subscription per se, but holy crap/crab

all 29 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It's shit like this that is why we need consumer privacy right to own your own data laws.

It's bad enough that the governments spy on you.

It's absolutely abhorrent that individual companies owned by investors (who have an explicit drive to earn more money this quarter than they did last quarter) can spy on you to attempt to target and manipulate your buying preferences to spend more money on them.

This age of being spied upon is either going to become such a norm that it will be weird that people had issues with it in the future, or they're finally going to fuck up some irrevocable way and make everybody wake up and realize that we don't need every single motherfucker and who has a dollar in the game looking up our booty holes to determine what the fuck we just ate.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)

This age of being spied upon is either going to become such a norm that it will be weird that people had issues with it in the future

It's like this now though. I'm apparently a total freak (outside of lemmy) for giving a shit about my privacy. I swear that everyone I know thinks I'm a conspiracy theorist. When I mentioned that Alexa listens to you when you're not talking directly to it, I actually had someone laugh like it's a totally absurd idea even though a two second search will bring up a million articles on it. Not to mention the lawsuits for when it spied on children.

People either don't seem to care at all, or it's just easier and more convenient to stick their heads in the sand. Which I guess is pretty typical for Americans at least. I will just never understand how anyone is ok with any of this.

[–] kmkz_ninja 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't disagree, but wouldn't Alexa have to listen to you always, if only to be on the lookout for 'hey Alexa'?

[–] WhoRoger 1 points 1 year ago

People just think it's magic

[–] AA5B 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Ima a bit of a hypocrit there. I prefer Siri, configured with push to talk, so it’s not always listening, it’s processed mostly on device, and it’s controlled by a company that’s not in the advertising business and markets their products on privacy.

…. But also having Alexa listening in in every room is so damn convenient

Note to people who didn’t think there was new features in Apple’s recent announcement: the new watch has enough CPU that they will now be doing voice processing on device for that as well

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Most of us on here are a bit more technically minded than the general public, so we know how these things affect us. For your average person on the street though, nobody's given a decent answer to the question 'So what?'

'The government knows where you live' 'So what?'

'The tech company knows what phone you have' 'So what?'

'Your ISP knows what sites you've visited' 'So what?'

We know why these things can be bad, and how they might be used against us, but most people don't, and the attempted explanations don't get the point across. I'm not going to pretend to have any answers, but until we can convince people that trading privacy for convenience is bad, things are not going to change.

[–] NOT_RICK 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I got a cheap ifit treadmill off a local marketplace app. I just want to run on the damn thing but it asks me if I want to create an account every damn run

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If they did that to my Nordictrack treadmill I would be raining fury down upon that company. Working out should not require logging in every day.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I love my NordicTrack. It's an old model, I push buttons and it goes. I have no idea why treadmills would ever need to be online. It doesn't even need a screen. Mine just has a shelf for your tablet to go on.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I have the 2450 with a 22” screen. While I can use it without the internet, I really enjoy running along with a trainer and virtually going to the most amazing places on the planet. I honestly won’t use it if I can’t have that feature.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Ok I can see how some people want that feature.

Me, I just put a movie on and run while watching it. I have never had a trainer - virtual or otherwise.

[–] WhoRoger 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Can't you just bolt a tablet to the wall and watch YouTube?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

In addition to what SCB said, it also changes elevation and speed along with the trainer. It’s pretty impossible to replace this experience with YouTube.

[–] SCB 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That sounds significantly more expensive and difficult to set up, for an inferior experience.

His machine allows him to virtually run through these places or be streamed a live trainer, neither of which the tablet allows.

[–] AA5B 1 points 1 year ago

Yes, I’m sure it’s a great feature for some people, but that doesn’t excuse a device being non-functional without that account. Hopefully there is a big warning somewhere but I doubt it

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I don't really get into YouTube while running because I don't want to be messing with the iPad once I start running. Perhaps a one hour video?

[–] whispering_depths 7 points 1 year ago

I wonder if this idiot actually considered doing a little bit of research before ordering a military training facility/research lab product that's supposed to be ordered in bulk and is for tracking stats in a network?

[–] DontTreadOnBigfoot 7 points 1 year ago

As if I don't already have enough excuses not to run...

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

I love the fact that if it was a simple account pw and perpetual logins and it got hacked people would be screaming bloody murder.

Now the fact it requires an online account period is something that's just plain stupid.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

JFC. You can't even take a vacation or anything. It's not going to fit in your luggage allowance for a plane, and even if you stuck it in your car, can you imagine having to drag it into your hotel room every night so you can log in?

[–] Delphia 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I think you have it twisted there buddy.

It doesnt stop working if you dont log in, it logs you out every 24 hours.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Although, hear me out. His way would really encourage commitment to running. Like "you will run every day or enjoy this $2,000 paper weight"

[–] AA5B 2 points 1 year ago

I’m a not very useful as a paper weight, it’s a clothes rack

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

John F Cennedy indeed