Common terms

Activation is a license or service validation procedure. It may involve sending information about a device, a license or a licensee to a service provider, and receiving some information that is…

Ad blocking is the practice of blocking advertisements, typically through automated means. Typical goals for doing this are reducing distractions, lowering the extent of data collection, decreasing…

Advertising overload refers to the practice of not only integrating advertising as a source of revenue in software and websites, but also increasing the number of ads within platforms that consumers…

Adware (combination of words advertisement and software) is a piece of software that is designed to display advertisements. This description is used for software that is displaying ads excessively…

Age Verification (AV), also referred to as Age Affirmation (AA) and Age gating, is the process in where a business requires some form of identification to verify your age. This is usually done for…

Anti-privacy legislation simply put is legislation that may be created with malicious intent or not that invoke ones right to privacy. In the last decade, governments across the world have introduced…

Anti-rollback, or ARB, for device firmware is a feature of some devices that prevents the device from booting if it detects that the device has been downgraded to an older, unapproved software build…

Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) is a feature in certain kinds of devices manufacturers use to collect consumer data, visuals and audio, at periodic intervals, which grants the manufacturing…

Main article: Digital rights management Digital Rights Management (DRM) in automotives is a practice in which automotive manufacturers restrict some of the functionalities of their products by using…

A backdoor is a method of covertly bypassing authentication, often in a digital system. A backdoor can be placed intentionally by a party to secretly access the system, or can be the result of a bug…

Bait-and-switch is the action of advertising goods that are an apparent bargain, with the intention of substituting inferior or more expensive goods. The measures against this practice depend greatly…

Most devices with rechargeable batteries have a battery management system (BMS) module. This module monitors and regulates key variables and is capable of communicating with the device and preventing…

Bloatware can be defined in 2 main classes: Pre-installed or bundled: features not required by a system (physical or digital) to work properly, and/or undesirable programs. Software that has become…

The bootloader is a special program on a device that loads the operating system when the device is turned on. Bootloaders are typically set by the manufacturer and shipped to retailers and consumers…

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) is a financing option for online purchases that allows consumers to pay for items in four installments. Companies such as Klarna, Affirm, PayPal, and Apple Pay offer Buy…

A "buy one, get one free" deal (abbreviated BOGO) is a form of sales promotion wherein a second unit of a good is sold for free only if the first unit is bought at full price. This can be used as a…

Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart or CAPTCHA was invented in 2000 as a means to deter bots and spam on publicly available websites. CAPTCHA tests aim to…

Circular Economy ideas and concepts have been studied extensively in academia, business, and government over the past ten years. It has been gaining popularity because it can help to minimize carbon…

A class action (or class-action lawsuit) is a type of civil lawsuit that allows a group of individuals (the "class") to make a collective civil case against an entity. European countries use the…

The click-to-cancel (CtC) rule is a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rule, specifically 16 CFR Part 425.6, which requires that subscription services make it as easy to cancel the service as it was to…

In consumer technology, a cloud service typically refers to a data processing service provided by a service provider (often product manufacturer), often for a periodic fee, without control over or…

Consent-or-pay, also known as consent-or-okay, is a business model implemented in response to the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Under this model, users of a website are…

Corporate greed, or simply greed, is a modern phenomenon In which corporations pursue goals for profit and shareholder-value without valuing customer thoughts and consumer rights.

A dark pattern is a manipulative design practice that tricks or influences users into making decisions that may not align with their true preferences or interests. These techniques exploit cognitive…

Data brokers are companies that collect, aggregate, analyze, and sell personal information about consumers without having a direct relationship with those individuals. These companies operate largely…

Data lock-in limits how device owners can access and manage data stored on the device they own. For example, some mobile applications store user data in a way they can only be viewed from inside the…

De-anonymization is the process or final state of revealing the true identity of an anonymous or pseudonymous person. All data linked to the anonymous or pseudonymous entity can then be connected to…

Lifecycle means series of stages which something (services, products, ..) passes during its lifetime. This article is aimed primarily for physical products at the moment.

The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is the European Union's regulation on large digital platforms, which entered into force on the end of 2022. Combined with the Digital Services Act, these form a package…

Digital rights management (DRM), alternatively known as digital restrictions management, broadly refers to any kind of access control technology that is used to deliberately restrict the usage of…

Discontinuation bricking occurs when a product is rendered non-functional ("bricked") because the manufacturer has decided to discontinue it. Discontinuation bricking usually occurs in products that…

Downloadable Content (DLC), also referred to as Expansions or Expansion Packs, are a method for developers and/or publishers to extend the monetization of their products. This practice is not…

Dynamic pricing is an umbrella term, which refers to a pricing strategy of modifying the price of a product or service according to market demands and/or consumer-identifying information. This…

Electronics leasing is an emerging business model in which consumer electronics such as phones or games consoles are leased to consumers for extended periods, rather than sold either by direct…

Platform decay, commonly known as Enshittification or crapification, is a practice in which companies (usually large ones) allow the quality of the products or services they provide to decline over…

Fake lifetime license is a marketing scam in which customers are misled and/or blatantly lied to, with respect to the expiration date of a license they acquired. This is distinct from post-purchase…

False advertising is an illegal business strategy where a consumer is lied to or otherwise mislead with the intention of increasing the probability that they will purchase a product.

Fear of missing out (FOMO) is a psychological phenomenon where a person feels like they are missing out on something that could improve or make life more enjoyable. As it relates to negative business…

Feature Ransom is a form of rights stripping when core functionality is restricted or removed unless users accept new terms or conditions.

Features on Demand (FoD), also called On-Demand Features (ODF) or Functions on Demand, refers to the process in which businesses provide a particular function or feature that can be added whenever…

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), established in 1914, is a federal agency enforcing anti-trust laws and consumer protection measures in the United States. The agency consists of five commissioners…

Financial censorship is the practice of major payment processors refusing to process transactions for individuals or entities that do not align with their values. Although some banks and processors…

Fingerprinting consists on attempting to uniquely identify someone or something, so that it becomes easier to track. A device fingerprint is a collection of information about a device's hardware and…

The First Sale Doctrine is a fundamental principle in U.S. copyright law that ensures consumers retain essential rights to resell, lend, or otherwise transfer ownership of legally acquired goods…

Forced account registration/sign-in/log-in is a practice committed by entities, where users must have (and use) a digital identity to perform simple tasks that may have otherwise been possible…

Forced app download is a practice committed by businesses and government entities where users must download an app on their smartphones to perform simple tasks that may have otherwise been possible…

Forced arbitration is a practice in which businesses can require their customers to resolve disputes through arbitration, instead of a traditional court system.

Basic Input/Output System, also known as BIOS, is a type of firmware used to provide runtime services for operating systems and programs and to perform hardware initialization during the booting…

Forced cloud, forced internet, forced remote connection, etc... is a practice in which software or hardware requires a continuous/constant (or, at least, regular) device connection to remote servers…

Forced Identification is the practice of forcing the user to unnecessarily provide their ID in order to access a product or service. The primary concern for forced identification comes from how…

Forced indemnification is a practice in which a business, such as a bank, refuses to take an action, such as transferring funds, unless and until its customer signs a document that includes an…

Forced retention of payment methods is when online platforms and payment processors store user payment credentials, often without a clear or easily accessible way to revoke them. In many cases, cards…

The Free Software Movement is a movement that aims to create and distribute software that is free in all sense of the word, not just monetarily. The movement was formally initiated by Richard…

Main article: Software as a service Games as a service (also known as live-service games) is a business model designed to monetize games after their initial sale or free download. It is typically…

Main article: Artificial intelligence Generative AI, also referred to as GenAI or simply "AI" in colloquial English, is a program or service with the purpose of "generating" pieces of media (text…

Greenwashing is a form of advertising or marketing that deceptively uses social and environmental public relations (PR) in order to persuade the public, investors, and consumers that a company's…

Hardware as a service (HaaS) (not to be confused with Infrastructure as a service (IaaS)), is a subscription model for physical appliances, such as cars. Unlike IaaS, which consists on…

Inactive account deletion is where accounts get deleted after being unused, with the time-frame often being from 6 months to 5 years.

Interchangeable parts are components designed for wider compatibility beyond the original product. Components ranging from Phillip or Torx screws in a laptop to hubcaps for the wheels of a car engage…

Internet of things (IoT) describes devices with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other…

Jailbreaking consists of removing restrictions (or "locks") in order to be able to make changes to a piece of technology (e.g. running modified software), in a way that is unintended by the company…

Kernel-level anti-cheat (KLAC) is a subset of anti-cheat dedicated towards running above the user level. These types of anti-cheat, such as Easy Anticheat (EAC), have grown in popularity among large…

Kernel drivers, kernel modules, or drivers are programs that run inside the kernel of an operating system. The kernel is the most fundamental part of the operating system, it provides basic services…

In a class action, the lead plaintiff is the named individual who files the suit on behalf of all the claimants.

Legal Lockout is a form of rights stripping where terms are implemented that modify users' legal rights or access to legal remedies. A common legal lockout practice is to implement forced arbitration…

Malicious compliance is an action where one complies with a request or demand, but in such a way that it follows the wording, but not the spirit or intent of the mandate. Applied to consumer rights…

Monetization overload, or over-monetization, occurs when a company prioritizes heavily monetizing a product or service, often at the expense of consumer engagement or even the product's…

Negative option marketing is a commercial practice in which a seller treats a consumer's silence or failure to act as acceptance of an offer, resulting in automatic charges. In the United States, the…

Non-fungible tokens (also referred to as 'NFTs' or simply 'tokens') are a type of media centered around purely digital ownership backed through cryptocurrency infrastructure. Ownership of NFTs are…

Opt-outs are a way for companies to make it harder for consumers to control their data. With opt-out, the consumer has to notice that they have a choice, understand the choice, and do some action to…

Part pairing is a practice in which manufacturers serialize individual components to effectively mandate the use of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts and approved technicians for repairs…

Pay-walling or paywalling consists of the action of setting a restriction to part of the content from a software or a service that can be only accessed if the user pays a one-time purchase or a…

Personalized advertising, custom advertising or targeted advertising is a form to provide certain ads to the user, based on the data gathered of them. This allows to target the user with ads of…

Planned obsolescence is a business strategy where products are intentionally designed to become obsolete, undesirable, or to stop functioning within a predetermined time-frame, forcing consumers to…

Positive practices are pro-consumer business approaches that prioritize the interests, rights, and well-being of customers. They are designed to empower consumers and offer fairness, transparency…

Microtransactions (MTX) act as a format of additional monetization within games. This can range from purchasing in-game currency, to cosmetics, boosts, and more. On a small scale, MTX has minimal…

Price fixing is determined by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asAn agreement (written, verbal, or inferred from conduct) among competitors to raise, lower, maintain, or stabilize prices or price…

Device deauthorization and remote disabling refers to the ability of technology companies like Apple and Microsoft to remotely lock, disable, or revoke access to consumer devices such as laptops…

This article addresses the widespread, harmful misconception that breaking a digital lock or modifying software behavior is always considered "illegal hacking." In truth, U.S. law, while flawed…