Millions of old phones, laptops, and smart gadgets could stop working later this week for a weird reason

Washington Examiner ^ | 29 September 2021 | Nihal Krishan, Technology Reporter

[blueplum]

The internet connectivity on older tech devices and smart gadgets could stop working on Thursday after a key digital certificate required to access websites safely expires.

Let's Encrypt, a nonprofit organization that is the largest issuer of digital certificates — which encrypts and protects the connection between devices and websites on the internet — will be forced to expire one of its most popular digital certificates, the IdentTrust DST Root CA X3, on Sept. 30....

...This problem has flown under the radar of many manufacturers, including Big Tech companies Apple, Google, Sony, and Microsoft — none of which have made announcements to customers about potential issues, Helme said.

He added this is one of the first major digital certificates to expire since the advent of the internet in the 1980s. Therefore, there is no precedent for how to solve the problem besides updating the software on devices...

[blueplum]

"Sony's PS3, and PS4 game consoles, and the Nintendo 3DS." may be affected

[pnz1]

Oh boy, if PS4 is affected I’ll surely hear about it😆

[FatherofFive]

"Sony's PS3, and PS4 game consoles, and the Nintendo 3DS." may be affected

White males to be most affected, so no big deal.

[Berlin_Freeper]

"Sony's PS3, and PS4 game consoles, and the Nintendo 3DS." may be affected

Don't make a grown man cry...

[max americana]

PS1 TO 5, I have them. Probably saving them to be sold on Ebay 10 years from now and Im sure I can fetch $5000 minimum for them.

[Revel]

The PS1 is safe.

[proxy_user]

It is possibly to manually install a new certificate on some devices. When I was working, I was able to do this - now, I don’t have a clue.

But manually installing a certificate on a game console or phone would be tricky, although someone probably knows how to do it.

[Mozzafiato]

Y2K2021

[Secret Agent Man]

you havent checked proces tecently

some of your games may be worth more than some ofyour systems

[telescope115]

I wish I had hung on to our Nintendo NES and Commodore Vic 20.

[Swordmaker]

Millions of older electronic devices, phones, computers, video game consoles, smart gadgets, and "Internet of Things" devices bought before 2017 that use the Let’s Encrypt digital certificate in question, and haven't updated their software since then, could face significant issues connecting to the internet. Those which may not be able to connect include popular devices, such as iPhones and iPads running iOS 9 and below, Android phones running below the 2.3.6 software, Windows computers running software prior to XP SP3, Sony's PS3, and PS4 game consoles, and the Nintendo 3DS.—PING!

PING FOR SHADOWACE, DAYGLORED, THUNDERSLEEPS FOR YOUR PING LISTS!

Cross platform Y2K REDUX SEPTEMBER 30? Maybe!
PING!

If you want on or off the Apple/Mac/iOS Ping List, Freepmail me.

[Ratman0823]

Let’s hope this one’s as much hype vs. problems as the initial Y2K scare.

The company for whom I worked at the time had operations in the World Trade Center on 9/11/01 and benefitted from the pre-planning of Y2K. Their disaster recovery plans were already in place and reasonably fresh. As a result, they were back to “normal” operations within hours, IIRC. Albeit in New Jersey.

[lightman]

Tech ping.

[eyedigress]

opened played games are 10’s of dollars.

People that bought games in the 80’s and put them on a shelf undisturbed and dust free.......

750,000.

[irishjuggler]

It’s unfortunate how much incompatibility and obsolescence develops with any sort of internet connected device. I have an old Mac from the late ‘90s running MacOS 9.1, I think, and every once in a while I used to fire it up just for fun. Last time I did, I noticed that browsing the internet is now nearly impossible as the virtually every website is using security certificates that the old browsers can’t handle. I think Google.com still functions, but that’s about it.

[Secret Agent Man]

not that many can fetch 750,000

and unfortunately there are only handfuls of games that are in that original pristine sealed condition.

thats why the incredibly small handful of certain games can sell for hundreds of thousands

plus there has been some scandal of the game graders inflating prices and hype

its extremely rare

[eyedigress]

It was never meant to be stored away.

Just like a 34 Packard. Who is just going to park it?

These games I gave away as I moved through life.

I never stored any of them. I did finish Mario and that darn battleship. It took awhile.

[max americana]

Oh yeah, I still have the ole Gran Turismo, Crash Bandicoot, Madden, Final Fantasy. F888, I feel old.

[dayglored]

Hi Swordmaker!

Thanks for the ping. Actually I pinged my list earlier this week on a similar thread: https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3998721/posts?page=42#42

But I'll do it again for this thread in a few minutes...

[Bob434]

[[could stop working later this week for a weird reason]]

That’s ok, this one weird trick will get them working again... click link to find out