Is it GE? I’ll bet you it’s GE.
Clicks.
Yep, it’s GE.
Refrigerators have DRM on them, To force you to buy $50 water filters or it won't dispense water
Submitted 2 days ago by mesamunefire@piefed.social to videos@lemmy.world
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kPgZW8n2UE
Comments
dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 2 days ago
regedit@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
My fridge is a GE and, like Ford, it’ll be the last time I even consider the brand. Our water filters require a QR tag in a specific location to work so I just held on to the last legit one we bought and taped it to the inside of the canister area. It constantly says the filter is over 99-days old but I can now get two off-brand filters for less than a single GE filter. Fuck I hate capitalism.
thermal_shock@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Is it even capitalism at this point and not extortion?
Know_not_Scotty_does@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Great short story called Unauthorized Bread about this bullshit.
thermal_shock@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Damn. The fact KitchenAids DNS blocked her results for a workaround is sad and funny.
A7thStone@lemmy.world 1 day ago
HP-Newscorp sent chills down my spine. I think the only thing more evil would be adding Nestlé to that.
shalafi@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Can you imagine how ridiculous that story would have sounded 15, maybe even 10 years ago? Went into it thinking it would be way over the top, read along thinking, yeah, I could see that.
Know_not_Scotty_does@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Yeah, its really fucking depressing. BUT, the solapunk/diy/foss/fediverse gives me hope that it can be bypassed or fought against. I find myself holding onto older tech and self hosting more and more. I am sure it makes me insufferable but I don’t worry about my stuff disappearing or costing me more to use once I have it.
mesamunefire@piefed.social 2 days ago
Excellent story. Thanks for sharing.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 1 day ago
My tap already dispenses water, why would I need a fridge to do that?
jol@discuss.tchncs.de 22 hours ago
It dispenses filtered water, useful if you don’t have the possibility to install a water filter faucet and prefer to filter water.
cy888@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Water dispensing is the main cause of refrigerator breakage. No water dispenser, fridge will work for decades.
derpgon@programming.dev 1 day ago
Can’t you just, I dunno, disconnect it from the ater source and stop using it? My LG is not dependent on it, and water filters are not DRM. It is a new models as well.
artifex@lemmy.zip 2 days ago
I discovered this when I put a reverse osmosis system in and wanted to bypass the filter. I needed a $50 plastic plug with an RFID tag in it or else the fridge refused to dispense.
QuadratureSurfer@piefed.social 2 days ago
For anyone with one of these GE fridges. If you read the fine print in the owner's manual, they will send you a bypass plug for free (just once) if you call and ask for one. You will need to provide the serial number of the fridge.
favoredponcho@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
What is the bypass plug? Does it contain an RFID chip or can these be mass produced?
artifex@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Damn. TIL.
Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 2 days ago
I’m moving to a place with well water, how difficult was it to install reverse osmosis and hook it up to the fridge? Does yours just provide for the fridge or the whole house?
SynAcker@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
I have an RO system that feeds a separate spigot at my kitchen sink and my refrigerator. Installing it is really simple because it just uses sharkbite connectors that just push to connect. Later on, I added a water heater so that I could have on demand hot water at the spigot which is also nice.
I have a separate filter that takes care of my whole house but that is just a carbon filter meant to scrub out the chlorine (I’m on city water) . Installation for that took a lot more effort and planning.
artifex@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
It’s just a small under-counter system that’s only running to the fridge and a separate spigot at the sink to fill pots with, etc. it was simple to install since my existing tap had enough pressure to push through all of the filters. I’ve never heard of whole-house RO, I think that would use a TON of water and you would definitely need a pump (in addition to a large storage tank).
Perspectivist@feddit.uk 2 days ago
Luckily I get my water from the tap.
kalkulat@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Can’t force you to anything, if you weren’t told about it before you bought it. Demand a refund and give them a date they get it out of your place by.
Fredselfish@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Won’t be buying one of those fridges.
sunzu2@thebrainbin.org 2 days ago
In 5 years, all of them will be doing this.
It is just one aspect of the class war being waged against pedons.
Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 1 day ago
Looks like I won’t be buying fridges in 5 years then.
Sir_Kevin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
I will learn how to build my own refrigerator before submitting to this IoT bullshit.
cogitase@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
There are still plenty of top-freezer refrigerators with no water dispenser, ice maker or filtration available and those fell out of style decades ago - despite being ~20% more energy efficient than bottom freezer refrigerators. They’re not going away anytime soon.
doingthestuff@lemy.lol 1 day ago
That’s gonna be a no for me. Read reviews. Be willing to milk the life of a twenty year old fridge that won’t make ice anymore. I’ll buy an antique before I go down that road.
Philote@lemmy.ml 2 days ago
Rossmann and his ilk are who we need in Government. It seems so simple. Understands law, fights for the people.
deur@feddit.nl 2 days ago
He stands for agreeable things but in no way should he himself be in charge of anything. He kind of sucks.
InternetCitizen2@lemmy.world 2 days ago
That’s why I subscribe to ideas not people as much as possible
blady_blah@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Weird, I bought a high end GE fridge 2 years ago and it doesn’t require drm on the water filter.
Evotech@lemmy.world 1 day ago
European?
I know models are often different because eu is much stricter
blady_blah@lemmy.world 13 hours ago
No, in California. Like just people here, I would have been very pissed off if they put drm on my filter.
FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Yup. My old-ass refrigerator has them.
But the thing is, I already had a Brita pitcher and ice trays. I don’t need the fridge to dispense them.
atticus88th@lemmy.world 1 day ago
New countertop ice makers are the shit these days. Some of them make that small pebble ice that’s great for smoothies.
scytale@piefed.zip 2 days ago
Our house came with brand new appliances and the fridge has a filter. Thankfully ours doesn’t stop you from dispensing ice or water when it wants you to change the filter. It just has a red light telling you to change it.
EvilEdgelord@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
Cheeky thumbnail 😏
stupidcasey@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Fun fact the black mirror Blu-ray also has DRM
melsaskca@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Is this the end of water treatment plants?
BigTrout75@lemmy.world 2 days ago
I thought I fooled the fridge makers. I bought a model without filtered water. Sadly, I didn’t realize that the ice cubes require a filter. 😔
potoo22@programming.dev 2 days ago
“It’s for the safety of the consumer.” is such a bullshit excuse to strongarm people into a subscription model.