The industry has expanded the usage of DRM to various hardware products, such as Keurig’s coffeemakers,[9][10] Philips’ light bulbs,[11][12] mobile device power chargers,[13][14][15] and John Deere’s tractors.[16] For instance, tractor companies try to prevent farmers from making repairs under via DRM.[17]
this ‘make evything smart’ trend is the new ‘make eveything blockchain’
It’s been around for a while (“smart” refrigerators/microwaves/…), but DRM in light bulbs is another level of ridiculous
soon you’ll have to listen to a 30 second ad before the lights turn on
What’s worse is that these things have a full Computer inside them with some custom distribution of Linux on it. And usually it’s some really outdated software, (even the Kernel they use is most of the time 10+ years old) which means IoT devices are a perfect target for hackers to exploit.
And of course the custom software on them is some quickly thrown together hack-job that works just enough to convince investors. After all; Time is money!
Also let’s not forget that if the company closes down all IoT devices they made become paper weights.
Such progress! /rant