Thread by @doctorow

Tesla Remotely Removes Autopilot Features From Customer's Used Tesla Without Any Notice jalopnik.com/tesla-remotely…

Your reminder that "Unauthorized Bread" was a warning, not a suggestion.

arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01…

Part of the value of a car is its resale value (would you pay as much for a car if you couldn't resell it as a used vehicle when you were done with it?).

But Tesla doesn't sell you the car, it licenses it, and the license isn't transferrable.

Here's the thing. This is just the beginning of the fuckery. Once you have the ability to revoke a feature, you should expect states to order you to do so. Apple has the ability to revoke working VPNs from users, and right on cue, China's politburo orders it to do so.

The gun on the mantlepiece in act one will go off by act three. If you can brick a car, you will be forced to brick cars.

"All of what happened here goes completely counter to how we’ve understood the buying and selling of used cars since there were used cars to sell. Whatever equipment the car had on it at the time of sale was part of that sale, period."

That's key. We're not just talking about the buyer being ripped off. The SELLER was ripped off, too. Because if you can't sell the car you bought with all its features intact, you're going to get less money for it.

"In fact, it seems like a pretty shitty thing to do, a craven attempt to double-dip and get money for the same features every time the car is re-sold."

Truer words.