Are Smart Gadget Manufacturers in Legal Trouble?

Smart products are everywhere nowadays, ranging from video doorbells and assistants to more niche appliances… including breast pumps and floss dispensers. However, despite all of these devices being very different, most have one thing in common.

It just so happens that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is concerned about this commonality, as it’s the fact that many don’t publicize when updates are available—or even provide them at all.

You May Have Come Into Some New Tech this Holiday Season…

What if, sometime in the future, that special gift you were so excited about receiving was the route someone used to access your network illicitly? What if your pet camera was used by someone else to keep tabs on your movements instead of you checking in on Fido’s? What if your sleek new gaming console resulted in someone stealing your credit card information?

These examples (and dozens of other pieces of tech) all share one thing in common: some level of their functionality relies on software, often that which depends on the manufacturer maintaining a server. This practice has come to be known as software tethering.

This means two things: 

1. These devices will need to be updated to remain secure over time.
2. These devices will only work as advertised if the manufacturer supports them.

This is precisely what the FTC is worried about, as detailed in their report Smart Device Makers' Failure to Provide Updates May Leave You Smarting.

What Did the FTC Find in Their Study?

The FTC’s staff members sought out information pertaining to how long support would be provided for 184 connected devices. What they found was very discouraging, as the vast majority—89%—of manufacturers neglected to mention how long a product’s support would last on the product information page on their website. Those websites that did supply this information often had it buried on other pages or in footnotes and frequently were unclear and ambiguous in the kinds of support that would be provided. Plus, many devices’ web pages gave no indication of the original release date in what information was provided, rendering it impossible to determine whether or not a product should still receive updates.

Using Google also proved to be little help, as the search engine’s AI-generated overviews and results were often incorrect or misleading. In one instance, this search showed that the “lifetime support” promised on the product page was actually limited to 2028, which the support page revealed as the actual EOL. Another device, similarly offering “lifetime support,” stopped receiving security updates in 2021.

According to the FTC, Some of These Practices May Be Illegal

At the end of this report, the FTC makes the case that neglecting or obscuring this information from consumers could potentially violate the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act, a piece of legislation initially passed in 1975 that is meant to protect consumers from warranty disclaimers by establishing set standards these warranties must meet.

These standards effectively require all warranties to clearly and unambiguously define what consumers can expect if they need a product repaired or other issues remedied. One big issue: the lack of updates or even support for some products after a certain point, particularly when these devices were advertised to come with a nebulous promise of lifetime support.

As this information was not easy to find—if available at all—for many smart devices, ranging from air conditioners to wireless routers, the FTC argues that:

“Manufacturers marketing a device as having certain features and then subsequently failing to provide software updates needed to maintain those features raises concerns about consumer harm resulting from deceptive practices.”

So, What Does This Have to Do With My Business?

Let’s break it down.

While the FTC is primarily concerned with end users and personal consumers, businesses use numerous devices that rely on similar functions and features—never mind those that employees own and carry to and from work or surround themselves with while working from home. 

The information the FTC wants to make more available will make it easier for consumers to make informed decisions about the products they purchase based on their security standards and the return they can expect from their investment. Therefore, businesses and private individuals alike could make better choices in the smart devices they buy, helping increase security and reduce waste on all fronts.

Of course, this law does nothing to enforce that consumers keep themselves informed about these tools; it simply ensures that the information is available. This is another place where working with Indevtech reveals obvious value. Working with us means you’ll have a team of IT professionals keeping up on these details and developments to ensure your technology remains optimized for your needs.

Let’s audit your IT infrastructure and help ensure your business is secure. Learn more by calling us at (808) 529-4605.