Consumer Rights

The Silent Takeover: Reclaiming Our Digital Roads 1 The Silent Takeover - Part 1: The Dashboard Spy 2 The Silent Takeover - Part 2: Your Digital Driving Score 3 The Silent Takeover - Part 3: The Invisible Passenger Economy 4 The Silent Takeover - Part 4: The War Under the Hood 5 The Silent Takeover - Part 5: The Subscription Garage 6 The Silent Takeover - Part 6: Reclaiming the Wheel ← Series Home You cannot stop the data age. The connected car is now the default. But you do not have to be a passive passenger in your own vehicle. Between surveillance, software locks, and subscriptions, the feeling of powerlessness is real. Yet a toolkit for resistance exists. It combines individual action, collective advocacy, and conscious consumption. The goal is not to smash the modem, but to restore a measure of sovereignty over the machine you own and the life you live within it. The fight is for balanced ownership in a digital world. ...

The Silent Takeover: Reclaiming Our Digital Roads 1 The Silent Takeover - Part 1: The Dashboard Spy 2 The Silent Takeover - Part 2: Your Digital Driving Score 3 The Silent Takeover - Part 3: The Invisible Passenger Economy 4 The Silent Takeover - Part 4: The War Under the Hood 5 The Silent Takeover - Part 5: The Subscription Garage 6 The Silent Takeover - Part 6: Reclaiming the Wheel ← Series Home You paid for the heated seats. They are physically installed in your car. To activate them, you must now pay again—every month. This is the subscription garage, where car features become services. The shift from ownership to usership is complete. Capabilities you once bought outright are now licensed, with fees that recur for the life of the vehicle. The car is no longer a product. It is a platform for continuous monetization, turning your dashboard into a point-of-sale terminal. ...

The Silent Takeover: Reclaiming Our Digital Roads 1 The Silent Takeover - Part 1: The Dashboard Spy 2 The Silent Takeover - Part 2: Your Digital Driving Score 3 The Silent Takeover - Part 3: The Invisible Passenger Economy 4 The Silent Takeover - Part 4: The War Under the Hood 5 The Silent Takeover - Part 5: The Subscription Garage 6 The Silent Takeover - Part 6: Reclaiming the Wheel ← Series Home A mechanic can no longer fix your car with just a wrench and a manual. The physical components remain, but their function is now governed by software locks and digital handshakes. This is the war on your right to repair. Manufacturers use proprietary software, encrypted diagnostics, and parts pairing to seal the vehicle’s ecosystem. Their goal is control. The result is that you, the owner, are locked out of the machine you legally own, forced to return to the dealer for service and pay monopoly prices. ...

Planned Obsolescence 1 The Engineered Expiration – Part 1: How Designed Decay Became the Core Business Model 2 The Engineered Expiration – Part 2: Software Lock-Ins and the Digital Decay of Connected Devices 3 The Engineered Expiration – Part 3: Dismantling the Fix-It Culture Through Planned Repair Prevention 4 The Engineered Expiration – Part 4: From Corporate Profit to Corporate Crime: The Environmental Cost of Artificial Limits 5 The Engineered Expiration – Part 5: The Regulatory Tide: Right to Repair and the Global Push for Longevity ← Series Home The Implosion of Repairability Planned obsolescence strategies extend far beyond merely timing a component failure or withholding a software update; they actively sabotage the consumer’s ability to repair products. This systematic creation of barriers dismantles the historical “fix-it culture” and reinforces the “throw-away society”. Manufacturers often ensure that repairs are not cost-effective, time-consuming, or virtually impossible for consumers and independent technicians to perform. The intention is clear: make buying new seem simpler and cheaper than fixing old, creating a condition known as economic obsolescence, where the cost of repair is prohibitive compared to replacement. ...