A more detailed article on this issue can be found here.
Basically, the “Basic” app functions of this thermostat control were free until, a short while ago, users were greeted by a notification, telling them they would need to pay a 1€/month subscription from now on. Only once you had already entered your payment details and clicked through the payment process, would you be told “lol jk, it was just a social experiment”.
As a German who was taught all the dark times of our nation in school, I can confidently say that us causing the second War To End All Wars is almost as bad as this company’s behaviour.
Obvious hyperbole aside, this is despicable and practices like these must be stomped into extinction like a carelessly tossed cigarette, lest other companies pick up on it and make the world a worse place for everyone but themselves.
These shenanigans are likely illegal in the EU:
If people got serious, they’d be looking at some lawsuits and fines.
True, true. We literally omly have a wood furnace, so are absolutely not affected by this, but I’ll see how reporting potential GDPR violations in the name of someone else works.