Norway’s Forbrukerrådet, the government-funded Norwegian Consumer Council, printed an 80-page report on February 27, arguing that firms throughout the tech business are systematically degrading {hardware} and software program after the purpose of sale to extract further income from locked-in shoppers. The report, titled “Breaking Free: Pathways to a Fair Technological Future,” singles out linked units, printers, video video games, and automobiles as classes the place the observe is most acute.
The report refers to this observe as “enshittification,” a gradual, three-stage course of during which an organization initially attracts customers with a genuinely helpful service, then degrades that service to learn enterprise clients, and at last squeezes each teams to maximise returns for shareholders. According to the Forbrukerrådet, digital merchandise are uniquely susceptible to this cycle as a result of producers can alter them remotely after buy by software program updates. Below, you possibly can see a video the group created in regards to the problem as effectively.
On proper to restore, the report notes that the EU Right to Repair Directive, coming into into drive on July 31, would require producers to cut back components pairing and permit third-party repairs. This is prone to be an enormous thorn within the facet of printer producers and system ecosystems which have traditionally tied shoppers to proprietary consumables and repair networks.
Alongside the report, the Forbrukerrådet and 28 co-signers — together with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Access Now, and Cory Doctorow — despatched an open letter to EU policymakers on February 27, urging stronger enforcement of the Digital Markets Act and the GDPR, and pushing again towards the European Commission’s “Digital Omnibus” package deal, which the letter argued dangers diluting present client protections.
The collective is pushing towards the EU Digital Fairness Act, which the Commission included in its 2026 work program with a proposal anticipated in This autumn 2026. The act is predicted to focus on darkish patterns, influencer advertising and marketing, addictive design, and unfair personalization throughout digital services.
A public session that closed in October 2025 drew roughly 3,000 responses in its first two weeks alone, many from players pushing for provisions that might forestall publishers from disabling titles shoppers have already bought — a marketing campaign often known as Stop Killing Games.
Follow Tom’s Hardware on Google News, or add us as a preferred source, to get our newest information, evaluation, & opinions in your feeds.