It sounds simple to say that a certain program “requires a subscription.” What that means concretely is that it contains a time bomb, so that it will refuse to operate after that date. Or else it is tethered to a server, and that server checks the date. Either one is a malicious functionality.

Examples of software subscriptions that harmed users directly are given below.

• 2024-11

  Dating apps exploit their users; fundamental features require an expensive subscription, and they are designed to be addictive.

• 2023-09

  BMW has retreated from making car owners pay for a subscription to the heated seats feature.

  Customers rejected it. Bravo for them!

  Instead BMW plans to require subscriptions for digital services and disservices—things related to the Orwellian tracking done by any “connected” car.

• 2023-09

  Google Nest snooper/surveillance cameras are always tethered to Google servers, record videos 24/7, and are subscription-based, which is an injustice to people who use them. The article discusses the rise in prices for “plans” you can buy from Google, which include storing videos in the “cloud”—another word for someone else's computer.

• 2023-04

  GM is switching to a new audio/video system in its cars in order to collect complete information about what people in the car watch or listen to, and also how they drive.

  The new system for navigation and “driving assistance” will be tethered to various online dis-services, and GM will snoop on everything the users do with them. But don't feel bad about that, because some of these subscriptions will be gratis for the first 8 years.

• 2023-02

  Volkswagen tracks the location of every driver, and sells that data to third-parties. However, it refuses to use the data to implement a feature for the benefit of its customers unless they pay extra money for it.

  This came to attention and brought controversy when Volkswagen refused to locate a car-jacked vehicle with a toddler in it because the owner of the car had not subscribed to the relevant service.

• 2023-01

  A dispute between Blizzard and one of its partners caused World of Warcraft to go offline in China. The shutdown may not be permanent, but even if it is not, the fact that a business disagreement can stop all users in China from playing the game illustrates the injustice of requiring the use of a specific server.

  We expect that users must pay to use that server, but whether that is the case is a side issue. Even if use of that server is gratis, the harm comes from the fact that the program doesn't allow people to make and use other servers for that job.

  Let's hope game fans in China learn the importance of rejecting nonfree games.

• 2022-07

  The nonfree software in a Tesla artificially limits the car's driving range, demanding ransom to unlock the battery's full charge.

  This is one more reason why cars must not be “connected.”

• 2022-07

  BMW is now luring British customers into paying for the built-in heated-seat feature of their new cars on a subscription basis. People also have the option to buy the feature when they are paying for the car, but those who bought a used car have to pay BMW extra money to remotely enable the heated seats. This is probably done by BMW accessing a back door in the car software.

• 2021-06

  Peloton company which produces treadmills recently locked people out of basic features of people's treadmills by a software update. The company now asks people for a membership/subscription for what people already paid for.

  The software used in the treadmill is proprietary and probably includes back doors to force software updates. It teaches the lesson that if a product talks to external networks, you must expect it to take in new malware.

  Please note that the company behind this product said they are working to reverse the changes so people will no longer need subscription to use the locked feature.

  Apparently public anger made the company back down. If we want that to be our safety, we need to build up the anger against malicious features (and the proprietary software that is their entry path) to the point that even the most powerful companies don't dare.

• 2020-08

  Apple can remotely cut off any developer's access to the tools for developing software for iOS or MacOS.

  Epic (Apple's target in this example) makes nonfree games which have their own malicious features, but that doesn't make it acceptable for Apple to have this sort of power.

• 2020-07

  BMW is trying to lock certain features of its cars, and force people to pay to use part of the car they already bought. This is done through forced update of the car software via a radio-operated back door.

• 2020-05

  Wink sells a “smart” home hub that is tethered to a server. In May 2020, it ordered the purchasers to start paying a monthly fee for the use of that server. Because of the tethering, the hub is useless without that.

• 2019-10

  Adobe has cancelled the software subscriptions of all users in Venezuela. This demonstrates how a requirement for subscription can be turned into a tool for sabotage.

• 2019-02

  The HP “ink subscription” cartridges have DRM that constantly communicates with HP servers to make sure the user is still paying for the subscription, and hasn't printed more pages than were paid for.

  Even though the ink subscription program may be cheaper in some specific cases, it spies on users, and involves totally unacceptable restrictions in the use of ink cartridges that would otherwise be in working order.

• 2017-11

  Sony has brought back its robotic pet Aibo, this time with a universal back door, and tethered to a server that requires a subscription.

• 2017-10

  The Canary home surveillance camera has been sabotaged by its manufacturer, turning off many features unless the user starts paying for a subscription.

  With manufacturers like these, who needs security breakers?

  The purchasers should learn the larger lesson and reject connected appliances with embedded proprietary software. Every such product is a temptation to commit sabotage.

• 2017-10

  Every “home security” camera, if its manufacturer can communicate with it, is a surveillance device. Canary camera is an example.

  The article describes wrongdoing by the manufacturer, based on the fact that the device is tethered to a server.

  More about proprietary tethering.

  But it also demonstrates that the device gives the company surveillance capability.

• 2015-07

  Microsoft Office forces users to subscribe to Office 365 to be able to create/edit documents.

• 2014-02

  Adobe tools require a subscription. Adobe also tried to rip people off by making the subscriptions annual, but that is a secondary issue compared with the basic wrong of the time bomb. When a program proprietary, and even malware, don't get distracted by the secondary issues like price.

  (Please don't repeat the marketing term “Creative Cloud” except to express revulsion for it. The term “cloud” is designed to cloud users' minds.)