Privacy-focused Volkswagen drivers are reporting that GrapheneOS devices can no longer access the car's app, fueling criticism that automakers are locking users into Google's ecosystem and restricting access to their own vehicle data.
Because the greed of corporations knows no limit. They sold you the (expensive) hardware, now they want to sell you the (specific, usually compatible but not really, and slightly buggy implementation) software. Can’t do that with open specifications.
It is rhetorical because that answer is self-evident to many, but you are exactly right nonetheless. It is a major exhibit in the case of why companies must be regulated to act in the public interest, because every time we don’t, they pull this same rent-seeking crap without fail: the “sell me a hammer and charge me when I swing it” routine.
Because the greed of corporations knows no limit. They sold you the (expensive) hardware, now they want to sell you the (specific, usually compatible but not really, and slightly buggy implementation) software. Can’t do that with open specifications.
It is rhetorical because that answer is self-evident to many, but you are exactly right nonetheless. It is a major exhibit in the case of why companies must be regulated to act in the public interest, because every time we don’t, they pull this same rent-seeking crap without fail: the “sell me a hammer and charge me when I swing it” routine.