Samsung doesn’t have to offer updates for phones older than two years

Dutch consumer protection organization Consumentenbond took Samsung Netherlands to court, arguing that the company should provide updates and upgrades for their telephones “within one month after these become available, for a period of four years after the introduction to the market and/or two years after the time of the sale.”

Consumentenbond also asked the court to order Samsung to inform consumers “clearly and unambiguously” of its policy on updates and upgrades with regard to each model that Samsung has introduced or will introduce to the market.

But, alas, the court sided with Samsung.

Samsung claims to protect users

“The court in Den Haag was of the opinion that the Consumentenbond did not sufficiently demonstrate that there are actual security risks and that Samsung does too little to alleviate this issue,” the organization noted.

Attorney Christiaan Alberdingk Thijm, who assisted the Consumentenbond in this case, said that the court wants the Consumentenbond to prove for all Samsung devices in all situations that there are security risks when Samsung does not provide consumers with any update, while these updates are indeed already available from Google, and that this requirement is unrealistic.

Gert Jan ter Haar, head of technical product management at Samsung Netherlands, welcomed the court’s decision, and added that “Samsung has a robust and balanced system to protect users of Samsung phones against vulnerabilities.”

The company also noted that they guarantee that Samsung smartphone owners in the Netherlands would get software updates for two years after a handset first went on sale in the country.

There’s a benefit for users after all

Despite being disappointed with the court’s decision, Consumentenbond Director Bart Combée said that the lawsuit at least spurred Samsung to better inform users: they set up a banner on Samsung website’s home page that points to a page with the company’s update policy, which says clearly which devices obtain updates and how often.

“That used to be very different. Before, that information – if it was there – was hidden away on their site. Thus, we have brought some movement in the market with this case; as a result of which consumers are now, in any case, better informed,” he concluded.

As a side note: Google has recently announced that the company is working to make sure that all Android OEMs are delivering patches regularly to their devices, but did not say whether older devices will benefit from this push.

from Help Net Security https://ift.tt/2sqISsj

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