Though some of the phone makers are finally getting the message that some of us want to keep a hold of our expensive phones for a long while. My new Pixel 8 has 7 years of security updates, which should work fine for my purposes. I’ll probably replace the battery somewhere in there, though.

Yeah, I think you nailed it there. Even a repair-oriented phone like the Fairphone has it’s limits, especially when it gets on to later years.

Longevity is nice, but not as helpful if it can’t keep up physically with new releases.

You also have to imagine what that longevity is going to really mean. Even a sturdy phone with a good case is in an unfriendly environment. They live in pockets, purses, and get dropped. Getting updates for 10 years is great, but it’s not too useful if the phone is dead. It’s always good to pursue increased longevity, but there is diminishing return for many reasons.

Yeah, and it’s not just that. It adds unnecessary complexity. All that many parts to break. Bikes already have a problem with too many non-standard components. I had one part break that was simple, but specific to that particular bike. The manufacturer happened to have a few extra around that they sent, but my impression was that (a) there weren’t many more and (b) they didn’t even know where they had come from. When much of the industry is in that state, we don’t need more fancy components.

Some companies are trying to bring SaaS to the world of bicycles. It’s not going well. Or rather, they’re going out of business.

License plate scanners have a similar set of problems. Let’s say you have a local politician who is in a tussle with the local police union, not an uncommon situation in modern America. Queries into scan records could show that the politician and another license plate regularly meet at motels, revealing an affair. This could then be leaked to the media, ridding themselves of an opponent.

Because of this, any legislation should be written more broadly to consider the ethical implications of data collection. This was stuff we talked about a decade ago in an undergrad ethics course I took as part of a CS degree. It is high time we start codifying at least some protections into law.

Regardless of your opinion of Hunter Biden (I’m not fond of the man), this was a massive breach of ethics by the shop owner. Speaking from the point of view of a tech worker, our clients entrust us with their private information on a daily basis. It’s a basic ethical obligation to not disclose that information, and certainly not for political or financial gain.