Ford files patent to disable car functions for missed payments

Re:Ford files patent to disable car functions for missed pay... by rkagerer on Monday March 06, 2023 @12:09AM (#35037710)

Is it so different from SaaS software that locks you out when your credit card renewal fails? (To be clear I'm not a fan of either).

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ford files patent to disable car functions for missed pay... by dattmavis on Monday March 06, 2023 @01:30AM (#35038101)

I would say there are significant differences.

You're not paying towards ownership of a SaaS site. You're paying a monthly subscription fee.

If you're 34 months into a Dropbox subscription you don't own anything. If you're 34 months into your car payments you might have thousands in equity in the car.

Even getting outside of the ethics -- Lots of cities in the US are also automobile-dependent and turning off someone's car seems counter-productive.

We definitely need to push back on these types of controls aggressively, including advocating for consumer protections.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ford files patent to disable car functions for missed pay... by rkagerer on Thursday March 09, 2023 @10:23AM (#35082123)

That's a really good point, thanks for enlightening me.

[ Parent | on HN ]