The march towards Corporate Communism

[Moe DeLoughan]

No more individual ownership . . . the corporations will own all:

You can't buy a battery for the new Renault Zoe. Instead, you have to rent it. And if you stop making payments, the battery's DRM will prevent you from recharging it. It's part of a larger product strategy through which the Zoe collects huge amounts of data on your driving and ships it all back to the manufacturer.

Just what the world needed: a car you're not allowed to own, and which you can't use anymore if you lose your job and can't pay the monthly battery rental fee. And if Renault's battery provider goes out of business, your Renault is bricked.

More at

[Dan Espen]

And how do you define that as Communism?

Too often we use words for effect instead of meaning. It may or may not be a good deal, but I don't see any politics there.

[IGot2P]

That approach is more representative of Capitalism that it is of Communism.

Don

[ChairMan]

hey moe, free clue................... don't buy a Renault

[Stormin Mormon]

When corps rule, isn't that fascism?

[Gordon Shumway]

There is one obvious flaw with Renault's marketing policy. If consumers can't own the complete vehicle they won't buy it.

Besides, how long would it take a disgruntled "renter" to hack the memory and defeat it? Not long... unless of course they work for Kathleen Sebelius.

[Frank]

Besides its a French car and partially government owned which is a reason why I will never buy a General Motors or Chrysler product ;)

Corporations will go to bed with any government, Fascist, Communist what ever. To make money, you go where the money is. Solution is to starve the government of extra funds for such nonsense.

[Moe DeLoughan]

If all the manufacturers get on board, you will eventually have no choice. That's how it works. Intel is producing a version of this called TPM, the Trusted Platform Module, which is (like the Renault example) hardware-related DRM. Among other uses, it can be employed to prevent copying or viewing of media. It can also be used to monitor the use of the product in which it is embedded, and report back. So we're back to privacy and rights issues for the individual 'owner'.

And then you're discovered to have violated the TOS, for which you are subject to either civil or criminal prosecution, depending on what legislation the industry lobbyists are able to get governments to pass on their behalf. Case in point: Monsanto and its genetically modified seeds.

[dennisgauge]

The Limbaugh Theorem "Low Information" Corollary, Capitalism vs. Communism:

It's only Capitalism if you are the one profiting from it. Otherwise, it is Communism.

[Tegger]

Stormin Mormon wrote in news:Xs9hu.410744 $ [e-mail]:

What about when corpses rule? That's called zombie-ism, and it's the latest craze. I'm even seeing zombie stick-man-family stickers in minivan windows.

[trader4]

Yes, just like if all the suppliers of milk decided to only offer it in 55 gallon drums. How likely do you think that is? Why wouldn't other car manufacturers offer you different alternatives? Good grief!

Intel is producing a version of this

Intel is making cars?

Good grief. The Intel TPM is a security feature for server platforms. If you don't like it don't buy it. Ever hear of AMD?

Which only goes to defeat your paranoid argument.

Ah yes, throw in Monsanto for good measure. If you don't want to buy soybean seeds from Monsanto, buy them from 100 other vendors.

What a hippie loon.

[krw]

No that's when government is in bed with corps.

[Ed Pawlowski]

They offer it with Office 360. I think it is $10 a month.

[Wes Groleau]

Office 365. You only have to take a day off once every four years.

But (as far as I know), they continue to offer the version that makes you take a week off at unannounced random times.

[krw]

Might just as well put Obama's name there.