this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2024
911 points (98.3% liked)

Technology

58279 readers
4836 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
L3s@lemmy.world
enu@lemm.ee
fry@fry.gs
L3s@fry.gs
enu@lemmy.world
L4s@fry.gs
L4s@lemmy.world
911
Paralyzed Jockey Loses Ability to Walk After Manufacturer Refuses to Fix Battery For His $100,000 Exoskeleton (www.404media.co)
submitted 1 day ago by some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org to c/technology@lemmy.world
102 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Apologies for posting a pay walled article. Consider subscribing to 404. They’re a journalist-founded org, so you could do worse for supporting quality journalism.

Trained repair professionals at hospitals are regularly unable to fix medical devices because of manufacturer lockout codes or the inability to obtain repair parts. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, broken ventilators sat unrepaired for weeks or months as manufacturers were overwhelmed with repair requests and independent repair professionals were locked out of them. At the time, I reported that independent repair techs had resorted to creating DIY dongles loaded with jailbroken Ukrainian firmware to fix ventilators without manufacturer permission. Medical device manufacturers also threatened iFixit because it posted ventilator repair manuals on its website. I have also written about people with sleep apnea who have hacked their CPAP machines to improve their basic functionality and to repair them.

PS: he got it repaired.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] cmrn@lemmy.world 108 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Keeping repairs locked into your system of parts/techs can at least feign “safety” or “quality”.

But essentially just refusing to repair is an absolute fuck you.

I’ve started choosing the companies I use based much more on the experience offered when their product/service DOESN’T work, rather than when it does.

[–] RvTV95XBeo@sh.itjust.works 49 points 23 hours ago (3 children)

I’ve started choosing the companies I use based much more on the experience offered when their product/service DOESN’T work, rather than when it does.

Easy to do for a cell phone or a toaster, but I can't imagine there's a ton of options for exosuits that correct your condition, covered by your insurance, that your doctor is familiar enough with to prescribe (for lack of a better term).

Some things are annoying to make abandonware, and some things should be criminal.

[–] cmrn@lemmy.world 2 points 9 hours ago

That’s the most dangerous part of it for sure. Inherently, the more a company has a monopoly over an industry, the less incentive they have to actually do a good job with anything.

[–] T156@lemmy.world 6 points 19 hours ago

And it doesn't preclude the company just deciding your product is no longer worth supporting/going bankrupt.

It might have been fine and seemingly trustworthy to begin with, and then it stops, a few years down the line.

[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz -2 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (1 children)

Don't buy a Google Pixel. I'll never get one again because of this. They wanted 250£ to even look at it so I got a new cheap Samsung out of spite.

[–] cows_are_underrated@feddit.org 2 points 14 hours ago

If i buy A pixel i will buy A refurbished one because no fucking way am I gonna give google money.

[–] fruitycoder@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 day ago

Right it begs the question.

Is me not receiving care or having access to care REALLY better for me?

If the answer can't clearly be yes, then they are just choosing to make me ill or kill me for their perceived interests.

[–] Dark_Arc@social.packetloss.gg 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

For me it's a mix of what you said and how they treat their employees/where they're making the product.

I spend extra time trying to find higher priced, higher quality, more fairly manufactured products.

[–] roofuskit@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That latter requirement is usually a good indicator of the former requirement. Companies that take care of their people typically end up making quality products.