I’ve really disliked the change in the router industry where the routers have become ‘smart devices’ instead of reliable local networking hardware. This has tur

I’ve really disliked the change in the router industry where the routers have become ‘smart devices’ instead of reliable local networking hardware. This has turned into the same abuse of customers we see from others. For example TP Link uses the same dark patterns in their routers as companies like Roku, where they make updates to the terms of service and force you to accept it in a pop up if you want to use the app. And the app is the ONLY way to access most of the router configuration features, as compared to the old method where routers would let you navigate to a password protected website to configure them. So if you don’t accept the new terms, you can’t control your router that you were able to control all this time. Additionally their app constantly pushes trials of their useless and unwanted services through nudges within the app like red circular badges next to menu items and user interface elements. It wouldn’t surprise me if their terms also let them abuse my privacy and security in the same way as Linksys. But who else do we go to? Every company is doing this. Maybe they just cannot survive without it. It’s probably why we need regulation here (consequences for security breaches, limitations on terms of service abuse, etc).