Self-destructive design: Difference between revisions

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'''Self-destructive design''' is a generic form of product design whereby it is possible that some if not all functions of the device will cease functioning. Self-destructive design can occur unintentionally due to oversights but it can be implemented intentionally ~~for a number of reasons~~. Self-destructive design is split into numerous types: '''discontinuation bricking, end-of-life product discontinuation,''' and '''planned obsolescence'''. All forms of self-destructive design harm consumers in that it reduces product lifetime and increases waste production.

'''Self-destructive design''' is a generic form of product design whereby it is possible that some if not all functions of the device will cease functioning. Self-destructive design can occur unintentionally due to oversights but it can be implemented intentionally. Self-destructive design is split into numerous types: '''discontinuation bricking, digital discontinuation bricking, end-of-life product discontinuation,''' and '''planned obsolescence'''. All forms of self-destructive design harm consumers in that it reduces product lifetime and increases waste production.

*'''Planned obsolescence''' is a business strategy where a product is designed in such a way that it will inevitably fail or become obsolete and require replacement with a non-obsolete product.

*'''End-of-life product discontinuation (EOL)''' is a generic term describing the discontinuation of production of a product and its parts.

**'''Discontinuation bricking,''' also known as '''Physical discontinuation bricking''' is a symptom of EOL where a product completely ceases functioning, likely because it is no longer reparable.

**'''Digital discontinuation bricking''' is a symptom of EOL where a product that depends on a network connection ceases functioning either because the company remotely shut down the product or shut down services the product depends upon.

==Overall impacts==

All types of self-destructive design share common impacts on consumer rights.

All types of self-destructive design share common negative impacts on consumer rights.

===Actively malicious behavior===

All types of self-destructive design can occur out of malicious intent to ruin a consumer's product.

* '''Planned obsolescence''' is the only type of self-destructive design that can be attributed as totally malicious; companies that institute planned obsolescence in their designs do so to ensure their customers buy more products.

*'''Planned obsolescence''' is the only type of self-destructive design that can be attributed as totally malicious; companies that institute planned obsolescence in their designs do so to ensure their customers buy more products. In addition invisible planned obsolescence can make consumers buy products they otherwise would not have bought with the knowledge of the dark practice.

* '''EOL''' is less likely to be malicious as it actually does provide real benefits for companies; no one expects ~~car~~ early 20th century cars to remain supported or in production in the 21st century. There is room for malicious EOL decisions with the intent to make consumers buy more products.

*'''EOL''' is less likely to be malicious as it actually does provide real benefits for companies; no one expects early 20th century cars to remain supported or in production in the 21st century. There is room for malicious EOL decisions with the intent to make consumers buy more products.

** '''Discontinuation bricking''' is also less likely to be malicious as it can occur when a company goes out of business, but for when companies just decide to take the product offline entirely it is more questionable. There is definitely room for malicious bricking incidents to occur.

**'''Discontinuation bricking''' is also less likely to be malicious as it can occur when a company goes out of business, but for when companies just decide to take the product offline entirely it is more questionable. There is definitely room for malicious bricking incidents to occur.

It should also be noted that EOL products can fall into the category of planned obsolescence if there is evidence to support the producer designed the product such that it would become obsolete.

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Excessive waste of all forms are inevitable in all types of self-destructive design. The loss of product or component functionality will create justification for consumers to discard their product and replace it with a functioning one.

* '''Planned obsolescence''' is special in this case because its sole intent is to make products become waste so that consumers buy more products.

*'''Planned obsolescence''' is special in this case because its sole intent is to make products become waste so that consumers buy more products.

* '''EOL''' will generate waste due to the decrease in reparability. If it becomes to expensive to repair an EOL product it becomes waste.

*'''EOL''' will generate waste due to the decrease in reparability. If it becomes to expensive to repair an EOL product it becomes waste.

** '''Physical Discontinuation bricking''' usual makes repair of the the device usually makes the device harder to repair.

**'''Physical Discontinuation bricking''' usual makes repair of the the device usually makes the device harder to repair.

** '''Digital discontinuation bricking''' is even more severe in this regard due to dependence on remote servers, most consumers will not build their own server architecture for the sake of running a digital app or device.

**'''Digital discontinuation bricking''' is even more severe in this regard due to dependence on remote servers, most consumers will not build their own server architecture for the sake of running a digital app or device. Additionally for the small subset of consumers that would be interested, they are rendered incapable of doing so since these servers often will use proprietary software, which often is not publicly accessible for personal usage.

The result of self-destructive design is an inevitable harm to the environment even though many companies claim to be "sustainable" while engaging in the practice.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250128190650/https://www.apple.com/environment/ Environment - Apple] - archive.org - archived 2025-01-28</ref>

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The term '''"bricking"''' refers to the process of a product losing functionality to the point that it becomes "brick-like" -- just a useless object. A product becomes '''hard-bricked''' if all its functionality is lost, usually in a very sudden manner -- in the flick of a switch. Hard-bricked devices are often difficult to de-brick. A product becomes '''soft-bricked''' when some of its functionality is lost. Soft-bricking can occur quickly but it can also slowly progress into hard-bricking; I.E: [[Intel CPUs stability issue|oxidation of a processor slowly killing it]].

* '''Planned obsolescence''' usually has a soft-bricking effect because designers tend to use a "slow-burn" effect which slowly harms the functioning of the device. The practice is unlikely to immediately destroy all functionality and is very difficult to detect as it might take several years to have a major impact.

*'''Planned obsolescence''' usually has a soft-bricking effect because designers tend to use a "slow-burn" effect which slowly harms the functioning of the device. The practice is unlikely to immediately destroy all functionality and is very difficult to detect as it might take several years to have a major impact.

* '''EOL''' is unpredictable in the bricking severity. Some EOL products may survive several years without requiring any repairs at all -- this is evidence of good design -- others may fail very quickly.

*'''EOL''' is unpredictable in the bricking severity. Some EOL products may survive several years without requiring any repairs at all -- this is evidence of good design -- others may fail very quickly.

** '''Physical Discontinuation bricking''' occurs when it is impossible to continue maintaining an EOL resulting in a total failure.

**'''Physical Discontinuation bricking''' occurs when it is impossible to continue maintaining an EOL resulting in a total failure.

** '''Digital discontinuation bricking''' is unique in that the product's functionality is almost always kept intact, just some digital system blocks using any of the features; it is hard to determine if this is "soft" or "hard" bricking because while all functionality is lost, its lost because the device blocking the function.

**'''Digital discontinuation bricking''' is unique in that the product's functionality is almost always kept intact, just some digital system blocks using any of the features; it is hard to determine if this is "soft" or "hard" bricking because while all functionality is lost, its lost because the device blocking the function.

===Dependence on third-parties===

===Dependence on third-parties for repairs and bypasses===

Some consumers will wish to repair their products after it has been damaged~~, this opens~~ the ~~door~~

Some consumers will wish to repair their products after it has been damaged which results in them contacting third-parties. Some third-party services may be untrustworthy and could open the user to [[security]] and [[safety]] risks

=== Third-party sale falsification ===

*'''Planned obsolescence''' is often the least harmful in terms of reparability as a side effect of its invisible nature. Often times it is possible to simply replace obsolete components with working ones. Companies attempt to prevent third party repair of obsolete components by using other dark practices such as [[Component pairing|anti-repair component pairing]].

*'''EOL''' is more significant due to the disappearance of repair components over time and anti-repair practices that prevent consumers from repairing their products with custom components.

**'''Digital discontinuation bricking''' is perhaps the most difficult to deal with due to the complexity of bypasses. A product that has ceased functioning because an authorization server has gone offline will require the user to either setup their own servers or bypass the remote authorization, malicious third-parties can take advantage of desperate consumers whose digital products have been disabled. In addition the more digital products depend on remote servers, the more difficult it will be to replace the hardware.

===Third-party sale falsification===

Products are often resold on the internet, and may be put on sale before self-destructive design defects appear. These sales will include valid information but become invalidated afterwards causing [[false advertising]]. This has many implications:

# Sellers may be completely unaware of the defect and will continue selling their product, hurting seller reputation once the buyer discovers the defect.

#Sellers may be completely unaware of the defect and will continue selling their product, hurting seller reputation once the buyer discovers the defect.

# Buyers may be completely unaware of the defect and will buy the product, only to discover the defect and harm the buyer.

#Buyers may be completely unaware of the defect and will buy the product, only to discover the defect and harm the buyer.

# Customers may learn about the defect and decide to sell the product without providing adequate details, even without any malicious intent, solely to recoup loss.

#Customers may learn about the defect and decide to sell the product without providing adequate details, even without any malicious intent, solely to recoup loss.

*'''Planned obsolescence''' is unlikely to cause sale falsification due to its invisible and constant nature which usually makes it undetected but sellers who are aware of this dark pattern should inform buyers.

*'''EOL''' announcements can cause sale falsification if the product is declared EOL after the product is put up for sale -- which invalidates the seller's information.

**'''Digital discontinuation bricking''' is highly likely to cause sale falsification due to its sudden and often unannounced nature, sudden bricking also contributes the highest amount of misinformation around a products functioning state.

For planned obsolescence sale falsification is unlikely due to its invisible and constant nature which usually makes it undetected but sellers who are aware of this dark pattern should inform buyers. For end-of-life products the sale falsification occurs if the product is declared EOL after the product is put up for sale -- which invalidates the seller's information. Discontinuation bricking is highly likely to cause sale falsification due to its sudden and often unannounced nature, discontinuation bricking also contributes the highest amount of misinformation around a products functioning state.

{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible" style="margin: auto;"

|+Types of self-destructive design and their impacts

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|}

==Planned obsolescence==

==Examples==

~~'''Planned~~ obsolescence~~''' is a business strategy where a product is designed in such a way that it will inevitably fail or become obsolete and require replacement with a non-obsolete product. Planned~~ obsolescence directly harms the consumer by reducing product lifetime and by generating unnecessary waste. In addition this practice is undeniably malicious in its intent usually being implemented solely to get more money out of consumers.

===Planned obsolescence===

*[[IPhone planned obsolescence incidencies|IPhone planned obsolescence incidences]]

==~~Discontinuation bricking~~==

===EOL repair blocking actions===

~~===Digital bricking===~~

* [[Autodesk]]

==~~End-of-life irreparability~~==

===Digital discontinuation bricking===

==References==

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{StubNotice}}
-'''Self-destructive design''' is a generic form of product design whereby it is possible that some if not all functions of the device will cease functioning. Self-destructive design can occur unintentionally due to oversights but it can be implemented intentionally for a number of reasons. Self-destructive design is split into numerous types: '''discontinuation bricking, end-of-life product discontinuation,''' and '''planned obsolescence'''. All forms of self-destructive design harm consumers in that it reduces product lifetime and increases waste production.
+'''Self-destructive design''' is a generic form of product design whereby it is possible that some if not all functions of the device will cease functioning. Self-destructive design can occur unintentionally due to oversights but it can be implemented intentionally. Self-destructive design is split into numerous types: '''discontinuation bricking, digital discontinuation bricking, end-of-life product discontinuation,''' and '''planned obsolescence'''. All forms of self-destructive design harm consumers in that it reduces product lifetime and increases waste production.
+*'''Planned obsolescence''' is a business strategy where a product is designed in such a way that it will inevitably fail or become obsolete and require replacement with a non-obsolete product.
+*'''End-of-life product discontinuation (EOL)''' is a generic term describing the discontinuation of production of a product and its parts.
+**'''Discontinuation bricking,''' also known as '''Physical discontinuation bricking''' is a symptom of EOL where a product completely ceases functioning, likely because it is no longer reparable.
+**'''Digital discontinuation bricking''' is a symptom of EOL where a product that depends on a network connection ceases functioning either because the company remotely shut down the product or shut down services the product depends upon.
 ==Overall impacts==
-All types of self-destructive design share common impacts on consumer rights.
+All types of self-destructive design share common negative impacts on consumer rights.
 ===Actively malicious behavior===
 All types of self-destructive design can occur out of malicious intent to ruin a consumer's product.
-* '''Planned obsolescence''' is the only type of self-destructive design that can be attributed as totally malicious; companies that institute planned obsolescence in their designs do so to ensure their customers buy more products.
+*'''Planned obsolescence''' is the only type of self-destructive design that can be attributed as totally malicious; companies that institute planned obsolescence in their designs do so to ensure their customers buy more products. In addition invisible planned obsolescence can make consumers buy products they otherwise would not have bought with the knowledge of the dark practice.
-* '''EOL''' is less likely to be malicious as it actually does provide real benefits for companies; no one expects car early 20th century cars to remain supported or in production in the 21st century. There is room for malicious EOL decisions with the intent to make consumers buy more products.
+*'''EOL''' is less likely to be malicious as it actually does provide real benefits for companies; no one expects early 20th century cars to remain supported or in production in the 21st century. There is room for malicious EOL decisions with the intent to make consumers buy more products.
-** '''Discontinuation bricking''' is also less likely to be malicious as it can occur when a company goes out of business, but for when companies just decide to take the product offline entirely it is more questionable. There is definitely room for malicious bricking incidents to occur.
+**'''Discontinuation bricking''' is also less likely to be malicious as it can occur when a company goes out of business, but for when companies just decide to take the product offline entirely it is more questionable. There is definitely room for malicious bricking incidents to occur.
 It should also be noted that EOL products can fall into the category of planned obsolescence <u>if there is evidence to support the producer designed the product such that it would become obsolete</u>.
@@ Line 18: / Line 23: @@
 Excessive waste of all forms are inevitable in all types of self-destructive design. The loss of product or component functionality will create justification for consumers to discard their product and replace it with a functioning one.
-* '''Planned obsolescence''' is special in this case because its sole intent is to make products become waste so that consumers buy more products.
+*'''Planned obsolescence''' is special in this case because its sole intent is to make products become waste so that consumers buy more products.
-* '''EOL''' will generate waste due to the decrease in reparability. If it becomes to expensive to repair an EOL product it becomes waste.
+*'''EOL''' will generate waste due to the decrease in reparability. If it becomes to expensive to repair an EOL product it becomes waste.
-** '''Physical Discontinuation bricking''' usual makes repair of the the device usually makes the device harder to repair.
+**'''Physical Discontinuation bricking''' usual makes repair of the the device usually makes the device harder to repair.
-** '''Digital discontinuation bricking''' is even more severe in this regard due to dependence on remote servers, most consumers will not build their own server architecture for the sake of running a digital app or device.
+**'''Digital discontinuation bricking''' is even more severe in this regard due to dependence on remote servers, most consumers will not build their own server architecture for the sake of running a digital app or device. Additionally for the small subset of consumers that would be interested, they are rendered incapable of doing so since these servers often will use proprietary software, which often is not publicly accessible for personal usage.
 The result of self-destructive design is an inevitable harm to the environment even though many companies claim to be "sustainable" while engaging in the practice.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250128190650/https://www.apple.com/environment/ Environment - Apple] - archive.org - archived 2025-01-28</ref>
@@ Line 28: / Line 33: @@
 The term '''"bricking"''' refers to the process of a product losing functionality to the point that it becomes "brick-like" -- just a useless object. A product becomes '''hard-bricked''' if <u>all</u> its functionality is lost, usually in a very sudden manner -- in the flick of a switch. Hard-bricked devices are often difficult to de-brick. A product becomes '''soft-bricked''' when <u>some</u> of its functionality is lost. Soft-bricking can occur quickly but it can also slowly progress into hard-bricking; I.E: [[Intel CPUs stability issue|oxidation of a processor slowly killing it]].
-* '''Planned obsolescence''' usually has a soft-bricking effect because designers tend to use a "slow-burn" effect which slowly harms the functioning of the device. The practice is unlikely to immediately destroy all functionality and is very difficult to detect as it might take several years to have a major impact.
+*'''Planned obsolescence''' usually has a soft-bricking effect because designers tend to use a "slow-burn" effect which slowly harms the functioning of the device. The practice is unlikely to immediately destroy all functionality and is very difficult to detect as it might take several years to have a major impact.
-* '''EOL''' is unpredictable in the bricking severity. Some EOL products may survive several years without requiring any repairs at all -- this is evidence of good design -- others may fail very quickly.
+*'''EOL''' is unpredictable in the bricking severity. Some EOL products may survive several years without requiring any repairs at all -- this is evidence of good design -- others may fail very quickly.
-** '''Physical Discontinuation bricking''' occurs when it is impossible to continue maintaining an EOL resulting in a total failure.
+**'''Physical Discontinuation bricking''' occurs when it is impossible to continue maintaining an EOL resulting in a total failure.
-** '''Digital discontinuation bricking''' is unique in that the product's functionality is almost always kept intact, just some digital system blocks using any of the features; it is hard to determine if this is "soft" or "hard" bricking because while all functionality is lost, its lost because the device blocking the function.
+**'''Digital discontinuation bricking''' is unique in that the product's functionality is almost always kept intact, just some digital system blocks using any of the features; it is hard to determine if this is "soft" or "hard" bricking because while all functionality is lost, its lost because the device blocking the function.
-===Dependence on third-parties===
+===Dependence on third-parties for repairs and bypasses===
-Some consumers will wish to repair their products after it has been damaged, this opens the door
+Some consumers will wish to repair their products after it has been damaged which results in them contacting third-parties. Some third-party services may be untrustworthy and could open the user to [[security]] and [[safety]] risks
-=== Third-party sale falsification ===
+*'''Planned obsolescence''' is often the least harmful in terms of reparability as a side effect of its invisible nature. Often times it is possible to simply replace obsolete components with working ones. Companies attempt to prevent third party repair of obsolete components by using other dark practices such as [[Component pairing|anti-repair component pairing]].
+*'''EOL''' is more significant due to the disappearance of repair components over time and anti-repair practices that prevent consumers from repairing their products with custom components.
+**'''Digital discontinuation bricking''' is perhaps the most difficult to deal with due to the complexity of bypasses. A product that has ceased functioning because an authorization server has gone offline will require the user to either setup their own servers or bypass the remote authorization, malicious third-parties can take advantage of desperate consumers whose digital products have been disabled. In addition the more digital products depend on remote servers, the more difficult it will be to replace the hardware.
+===Third-party sale falsification===
 Products are often resold on the internet, and may be put on sale before self-destructive design defects appear. These sales will include valid information but become invalidated afterwards causing [[false advertising]]. This has many implications:
-# Sellers may be completely unaware of the defect and will continue selling their product, hurting seller reputation once the buyer discovers the defect.
+#Sellers may be completely unaware of the defect and will continue selling their product, hurting seller reputation once the buyer discovers the defect.
-# Buyers may be completely unaware of the defect and will buy the product, only to discover the defect and harm the buyer.
+#Buyers may be completely unaware of the defect and will buy the product, only to discover the defect and harm the buyer.
-# Customers may learn about the defect and decide to sell the product without providing adequate details, even without any malicious intent, solely to recoup loss.
+#Customers may learn about the defect and decide to sell the product without providing adequate details, even without any malicious intent, solely to recoup loss.
+*'''Planned obsolescence''' is unlikely to cause sale falsification due to its invisible and constant nature which usually makes it undetected but sellers who are aware of this dark pattern should inform buyers.
+*'''EOL''' announcements can cause sale falsification if the product is declared EOL after the product is put up for sale -- which invalidates the seller's information.
+**'''Digital discontinuation bricking''' is highly likely to cause sale falsification due to its sudden and often unannounced nature, sudden bricking also contributes the highest amount of misinformation around a products functioning state.
-For planned obsolescence sale falsification is unlikely due to its invisible and constant nature which usually makes it undetected but sellers who are aware of this dark pattern should inform buyers. For end-of-life products the sale falsification occurs if the product is declared EOL after the product is put up for sale -- which invalidates the seller's information. Discontinuation bricking is highly likely to cause sale falsification due to its sudden and often unannounced nature, discontinuation bricking also contributes the highest amount of misinformation around a products functioning state.
 {| class="wikitable mw-collapsible" style="margin: auto;"
 |+Types of self-destructive design and their impacts
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 |}<!-- Table needs some work, "Required repairs" especially unclear. Also a lot of subjective language: we really need a wiki-wide scaling system. -->
-==Planned obsolescence==
+==Examples==
-'''Planned obsolescence''' is a business strategy where a product is designed in such a way that it will inevitably fail or become obsolete and require replacement with a non-obsolete product. Planned obsolescence directly harms the consumer by reducing product lifetime and by generating unnecessary waste. In addition this practice is undeniably malicious in its intent usually being implemented solely to get more money out of consumers.
+===Planned obsolescence===
+*[[IPhone planned obsolescence incidencies|IPhone planned obsolescence incidences]]
-==Discontinuation bricking==
+===EOL repair blocking actions===
-===Digital bricking===
+* [[Autodesk]]
-==End-of-life irreparability==
+===Digital discontinuation bricking===
 ==References==