Technology should earn profit by helping us, not extract profit by exploiting us.
The goal of the Consumer Control Project is to lobby for legislation which addresses overdue consumer protections and consumer rights.
The mascot for the broader movement around consumer rights is Microsoft Clippy.
Clippy didn’t charge a subscription fee, he didn’t show you ads, and he didn’t sell your information to insurance companies. He was just trying to help. Clippy was an example of a company (Microsoft) trying make their product better for you, with the understanding that, if the product is good, then you’ll buy more of it in the future. Clippy was an honest attempt to earn profit by helping us, like many products used to be.
Today, however, tech companies have decided that the best way to be profitable is to exploit their users: they force their products to require cloud connectivity so they can charge subscriptions, they force ads into the product you supposedly own, and they sell your personal information to anyone who wants it because, apparently, they didn’t make enough money on the original sale of a $2,000 TV or a $50,000 car. On top of that, they sell digital-only goods which can be revoked at any time without a refund. Tech companies used to earn profit by helping us, but now they extract profit by exploiting us. As a result, we need new consumer protection laws which force them to treat their customers fairly once again.
Consumer control is a bi-partisan issue. Everyone expects the products and services they paid for to work for them, not the other way around.