'If you're not paying for the product, then you're the product' suggests you stop being a product once you start paying, but that'

Why we hate the tech industry even though we love tech — Jake LaCaze

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2024-10-28 20:00:02

'If you're not paying for the product, then you're the product' suggests you stop being a product once you start paying, but that's not always true. Often, we're paying to be the product as the tech companies mine and store our data. What are they doing with that data? What information is within that data? How secure is it? What happens to that data if the tech company shuts its doors?

Our tech products need to be separated from the companies themselves as much as possible. The tech companies should do as much as they can to limit the number of products that go offline if a tech vendor goes out of business.

For an example of what I mean, look at Fisker EVs, which are basically the largest and most expensive paperweights of all time, as they can't be used now that the manufacturer has filed for bankruptcy. To make matters worse, the cars can't even be ported to a new server.

This story shows one of the major flaws of SaaSification, as the SaaS model keeps tech products and services tied to the tech vendors.