Many devices nowadays won&#x27;t work unless they can contact the manufacturer&#x27;s server.<p>For example, you can buy wifi-enabled SD cards for your digital camera. Unfortunately, you can&#x27;t transfer files directly from the camera to the computer to use in your favorite editing app because the card requires you to connect to a particular server which automatically uploads your photos to their service and you then have to re-download them to your computer if you want them locally.<p>This is where manufacturers are trying to lead us. They want users to be locked in to their service any time we purchase one of their devices.