European Lawmakers Propose a 'Right To Repair' For Mobiles and Laptops (techcrunch.com) 120
The European Commission has set out a plan to move towards a 'right to repair' for electronics devices, such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops. From a report: More generally it wants to restrict single-use products, tackle "premature obsolescence" and ban the destruction of unsold durable goods -- in order to make sustainable products the norm. The proposals are part of a circular economy action plan that's intended to deliver on a Commission pledge to transition the bloc to carbon neutrality by 2050. By extending the lifespan of products, via measures which target design and production to encourage repair, reuse and recycling, the policy push aims to reduce resource use and shrink the environmental impact of buying and selling stuff. The Commission also wants to arm EU consumers with reliable information about reparability and durability -- to empower them to make greener product choices.
Anybody getting sick of the EU doing it for us? (Score:5, Insightful)
We go nowhere, more often backwards while the EU continues to address these issues in more meaningful ways. They are not perfect but they make us look bad (aside from our continual self-imposed embarrassment.)
Re: Anybody getting sick of the EU doing it for us (Score:2, Insightful)
Considering the US, as a whole, has a far more robust economy than the EU, as a whole, I'm not sure why you would want to use them as a model. Compare Switzerland to the EU, and you'll notice we have more in common with them, and overall they're also doing better that the EU overall.
If this works out for them, great. If not, great. Either way, we can learn from it.
Re: Anybody getting sick of the EU doing it for us (Score:5, Insightful)
The economy is not the sole metric of how a country is doing. The USA is 13th in the Quality of Life [worldpopul...review.com] rankings, and oh look at all those European countries well ahead of it. What's a strong economy worth if your citizens have a shitty life?
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Right. But the measures I use to determine "quality of life" are not the same ones as the people who do analyses like the one you linked to.
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And by what scientific measure do measure the quality of life? I am sure the measures they use are far from perfect but they at least attempt to measure that quality. Figures like GDP make absolutely no attempt measure that at all.
Re: Anybody getting sick of the EU doing it for u (Score:1)
Quality of life cannot be assessed by a scientific measure. It is a cultural construct, not a quality that can be metered.
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Quality of life cannot be assessed by a scientific measure. It is a cultural construct, not a quality that can be metered.
You have no idea. There are both objective and subjective metrics that are pretty reliable.
Re: Anybody getting sick of the EU doing it for u (Score:2)
One of the primary considerations is the presence of undesirable constraints on how I live my live.
Could not a fuck about GDP....not sure why you mentioned it.
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Right. But the measures I use to determine "quality of life" are not the same ones as the people who do analyses like the one you linked to.
If I had to bet I would say the measures you use to determine "quality of life" apply only to you and the people doing analysis are looking at a much bigger picture.
Re: Anybody getting sick of the EU doing it for u (Score:2)
I bet you would lose that bet.
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Re: Anybody getting sick of the EU doing it for u (Score:1)
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Compare Switzerland to the EU, and you'll notice we have more in common with them
As somebody living in Switzerland, I think this is quite the insult. Switzerland is nowhere near as inhumane (everybody here has health-insurance), aggressive (Switzerland is neutral), uneducated (the school-system is excellent), in dept, dependent on oil, etc., etc. as the US. The only thing better the US has in comparison is size. Scale both to the same size and you will find the US near the bottom and Switzerland near the top in basically everything that counts.
Re: Anybody getting sick of the EU doing it for u (Score:2)
Europe has much higher overall quality of life than the US, much lower crime rates, much higher education and several European countries are much richer per GDP than the US.
Notice how I spoke strictly in terms of monolithic entities? That's called an apples to apples comparison.
Notice how you changed what you were talking about based on whatever argument you were trying to make? That's called cherry picking.
Much as the US is a federation of many states, the EU is a confederacy of many (or is it nany?) states. Either compare the two as a whole, or don't.
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In other words, you continue to "froth at the mouth", create chaos and mayhem in distant lands while pragmatic economies and companies continue to register progress.
Oh wait: This may explain why some [foreign] tech companies continue beat companies (including American), [lexology.com] at what should be their strongest field.
Sorry...America is almost of no consequence when it comes to 5G!
Re: Anybody getting sick of the EU doing it for us (Score:1)
5G is about pinpoint instant telemetry. No thanks. I get all the connectivity I need with last years protocols.
Re: Anybody getting sick of the EU doing it for us (Score:4, Insightful)
Don't have the illusion this would really help. Repairs will just remain uneconomical. The right to repair does not say anything about the cost to repair, so unless you can repair it yourself you'll be SOL and better of buying new, possibly from another brand.
Nothing will change as long 70% of the repair cost consist of taxes. An issue that Europe will not address.
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Are you some kind of idiot? The most common repair is replacing a smashed screen, and even that these companies try to block (e.g. through seizure of displays). If you have the right tools, the labour costs are negligible, and it's far more cost effective than buying a replacement device. I don't know where you got this 70% tax nonsense from, but it has no bearing in reality. But hey, keep making up random numbers to get outraged over, shilling is obviously hard work, especially when you have your head that
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Pants on fire
https://www.saturn.de/de/shop/... [saturn.de]
Battery or display replacement for older iphones cost less than 90 euros, sometimes significantly less. The really expensive repairs are usually caused by the really expensive AMOLED displays.
Re: Anybody getting sick of the EU doing it for u (Score:4, Informative)
20% import tax on parts 60% tax on labour 20% sales tax, also on services.
No bonafide tax paying company can charge less than 90 euro an hour for labour in most european countries, and usually more if you need a real technician. Hence you'd get charged 75$ investigation cost just to get a price estimate, nothing done yet for that money.
Spot the person who has bought the Fox News propoganda. No idea where you get the 60% tax on labour from as employer taxes in my country are sub 11% with a £4000 allowance, or the 20% import tax on parts as most are zero rated.
Re: Anybody getting sick of the EU doing it for u (Score:2)
I don't know where he got it from either, but he could be referring to a sales tax on labor, (as opposed to a sales tax on goods.) He's possibly taking about VAT or similar taxes. Does the VAT itself amount to 60% after you deduct the cost of the original good from its selling price? I have no idea.
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The VAT is only used for the end sales to non commercial customers and it is on average about 21 percent across the EU.
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Actually that number is off, cause i intended to say that of total labor costs taxes are about 60%. At least in my country, and as far i know, in most North-European country. A better number would have been 120%, as the total labor cost is about 220% of the net income, and often more on the higher salary scales.
And as far Fox goes, i don't watch that stuff since i'm actually located in the EU. I just watch the numbers on my salary strip. Taxes in most of the EU are sky-high, unless you live in one of the po
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Less then the letter of the law but the intent.
Many of these EU laws seem to target Companies that do not operate in the EU, For Cellphones and Laptops That is predominantly imports from Asia and America.
While one can say Asia and America do not play fairly which is a valid argument. I would also bring up that Europe doesn't have many significant competitors that they produce in their borders. Making it an easy law to pass because you may not have big names like Siemens, BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes, BNP Pari
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I would also bring up that Europe doesn't have many significant competitors that they produce in their borders. Making it an easy law to pass because you may not have big names like Siemens, BMW, Volkswagen, Mercedes, BNP Paribas... Protesting the decision because it doesn't affect their primary market.
Like all other regularly industries they influenced by their own self interests, they will push for the right thing if it doesn't negatively hurt them. I haven't seen any cases where leadership will be willing to take a hit for the greater good, unless they are already under a lot of pressure.
ROFLMAO. Lists a long list of EU companies whose primary market IS the EU, claims they won't be affected.
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It will apply to plenty of big EU companies like Bosch, Miele, Dyson etc.
Even for stuff like laptops we have domestic brands like Phillips and various house brands. They are all Chinese machines rebadged and will have to meet these requirements.
Re: Anybody getting sick of the EU doing it for us (Score:2)
They are barred from doing so by the WIPO treaty.. (Score:1)
Devil's advocate here. There are several reasons why the right to repair will not get passed:
1: A lot of the devices handle DRM. By allowing repairing is a violation of the WIPO treaty, and the DMCA in the US.
2: This will increase liability for device makers. Joe Sixpack takes something apart, spills his beer on the circutry, gets zapped, and sues for lots of money.
3: Most people don't have the skills, nor the tools to take devices apart. They don't have wave soldering stations. All what will happen
Re:They are barred from doing so by the WIPO treat (Score:5, Informative)
For a devil's advocate, this is pretty weak...
1: A lot of the devices handle DRM. By allowing repairing is a violation of the WIPO treaty, and the DMCA in the US.
...so you make the DRM decoder its own removable IC. More to the point, most of the issues with 'right to repair' have little to do with the DRM decoders. Batteries, cameras, the thumbprint reader on the iPhones that have them, screens, volume switches, headphone jacks...those are the things that commonly break. Moreover, the issues tend to stem from the heavy handed levels to which things are enforced. I don't think there would have been nearly the same level of outcry about the third party home buttons being disabled if it was only the fingerprint reader that was disabled as a compromise...but no, it wouldn't function as a home button. That's more what right-to-repair advocates are concerned about.
2: This will increase liability for device makers. Joe Sixpack takes something apart, spills his beer on the circutry, gets zapped, and sues for lots of money.
"your honor, Mr. Sixpack received his injuries due to attempting his own repair."
"Mr. Sixpack, is this true?"
"yes, but I have a right to repair it."
"That's correct...but the bill only prevents Samsung from preventing you from doing so, it doesn't give you the right to sue them for your lack of skill. Next case."
3: Most people don't have the skills, nor the tools to take devices apart. They don't have wave soldering stations. All what will happen is that the user breaks something, then says it broke under warranty.
"Warranty void if removed" stickers have been a thing for decades. Solder burns and IC unseating is obvious, and easy to void warranties over. The major issues being faced involve the incorporations of anti-repair technology outlasting the warranty itself. Even beyond soldering issues, phones should have bootloader unlocking a mandatory option after the warranty expires so users can install later versions of Android if they want. Not a requirement at sale, fine, but relying on hacks to run unsigned code on a Note 4 shouldn't be the way things are designed.
Even open source companies like Prusa are wising up to this. In the Prusa Minis, one has to physically break a connector on the motherboard in order to turn off signature checking for firmware, because people have done stupid stuff, caused fires, and blamed the 3D printer maker for their own stuff.
Fine. Let it be a one-way, readily obvious thing. You can't possibly convince me that 1.) I don't have the right to turn my lawnmower into a ceiling fan if I want, or 2.) that the capability of doing so, in any way, gives me legal grounds to sue the lawnmower maker.
The right to repair violates copyright
...no it doesn't?
will cause people to get hurt
Repairing one's property has been a practice for thousands of years, but only NOW is causing injuries with low-voltage electronics?
and opens up legal liability.
...as if a RtR bill is utterly incapable of incorporating a liability waiver clause.
Re:They are barred from doing so by the WIPO treat (Score:4)
I believe those have actually been illegal (or at least unenforceable) for quite some time now.
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""Warranty void if removed" stickers have been a thing for decades. Solder burns and IC unseating is obvious, and easy to void warranties over."
Those stickers are illegal and a violation of the anti-tying provisions of the magnusson-moss warranty act. Please try to quit licking that corporate boot to a spit-shine polish.
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If I buy something Its mine I can do what the hell I want with it. If not, its not bought, and you got my money by misrepresentation (fraud).
If you no longer support the product, and it still works, but is massively insecure and a threat to the public then either you go to jail for aiding and abetting each and every one of the hacks, or you release the information for third parties to provide fixes. - applies to phone boot loaders, car EMUs, Inte
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Re:They are barred from doing so by the WIPO treat (Score:5, Insightful)
Obviously, you're one of those people without the skill to repair. Otherwise you'd know that nobody uses wave soldering for repairs. Hot air stations are a much more common choice and you can get one on Amazon for considerably less than an iPhone costs.
As others pointed out, not preventing repairs does nothing to increase liability. Some manufacturers may have used that as an excuse, but I wouldn't drink that cool-aid if I were you.
I'm not sure what DRM has to do with it. Circumvention of legitimate DRM would not suddenly become permitted. Abusing the DMCA and DRM like methods to block repairs would need to be forbidden (for example, the security chips that make sure toner carts aren't refilled, and John Deere parts that block self-repair by requiring licensed software to "introduce" the otherwise perfectly functional replacement part to the system).
If you personally lack the skills to repair something, you should be able to hire someone else to do it for you. There are such people and they can often do it for less than the OEM will charge (and even when the OEM claims it's impossible). Anyone who supports a market economy should cheer for that.
Much of the DMCA and DRM crap that interfere with repair have nothing to do with protecting copyright or user security and everything to do with pinning the invisible hand of the market to the floor with a dagger.
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Repair isn't the same thing as stripping the whole board and replacing all the components. Even if that was done, many/most consumer products these days use SMT, so you'd need reflow, not wave soldering. See here [youtube.com] for about a zillion examples of a profitable business doing repairs without wave soldering. You'll see an iron, hot air, magnifiers, multimeter, etc, but no wave soldering.
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"Repair isn't the same thing as stripping the whole board and replacing all the components"
It is when the traces are all good but the components are all bad, as in defective batch manufacturing and refurbishing.
"Even if that was done, many/most consumer products these days use SMT, so you'd need reflow, not wave soldering"
Incorrect for many pieces of equipment, specifically laptop boards where components are on both sides of the board, and guess what wave soldering does? Mount SMT components, because it IS
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None of them as big as Solectron Global.
SO? The point was that it is profitable to do on small scale. YOU are the one that claimed it is only profitable on the large scale.
Because they're amateurs and are using CHEAP technology for repairs.
They do it for a living, so by definition they are pros. They are sufficiently profitable that they are expanding their operation in New York City (not the cheapest place to set up shop). Why would they use the most expensive technology to do the job rather than the cheap technology? As a customer, why would you want to pay someone more to support their use of the expensive tec
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Most PCBs these days aren't repairable, not in any cost-effective way. You have BGAs packed edge-to-edge and you'll likely fry the rest of the PCB trying to remove them, chancy success rate installing a replacement, and even xraying it is no guarantee all the balls connected and none of them bridged. That's why so many get tossed. When
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Check out the link I posted above. A number of the videos show at least smaller BGA chips successfully replaced in a profitable operation. Of course,that's on high markup Apple devices, not so sure it would be worth it for a cheap laptop and certainly not for a whitebox mainboard unless there was also recovery of valuable data.
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I once repaired a broken connection on a headphone jack using an electric stove, an old butter knife, and a shot of vodka (OK, so the shot wasn't strictly necessary for the repair). That doesn't make it the best way, or the most popular way, just A way.
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2. Litigious people be litigious. Doesn't matter what the laws are or aren't. Such frivolous lawsuits just need to be tossed out.
3. It's not about individuals repairing their own things necessarily, it's 3rd party companies being allowed to repair them, and also manufacturers making things that are repairable in the first place, as opposed to being basically blocks of epoxy that you have to drop in the trash when they stop working. It's also about no
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Well, I'm sick of the EU...you got that part right.
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We make ourselves look bad. At least we have the EU to move us forward.
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Nice try, sock puppet. No, you're alone. (Score:4, Funny)
Nope. We're glad for the GDPR, for our phones having USB compatibility, and we'll be glad for this.
What do you want anyway? You're either leaving the EU anyway (UK), or you're not in it at all (Mont Pellerin Society neo-libertarian fascist terrorist group federation, operating from Switzerland).
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If not for the EU, we'd still be stuck with each phone requiring it's own special snowflake charger with spare/replacement chargers costing 10 times more if you can get one at all.
Re: Anybody getting sick of the EU doing it for us (Score:2, Troll)
I disagree in this case, though, because it's clear that manufacturers have been purposely lobbying for laws which make it difficult, if not illegal, to gain enough knowledge to be able to repair your own devices
Re: Anybody getting sick of the EU doing it for us (Score:5, Interesting)
Lessee...is this the same government (talking US here), that passed laws like DMCA and kinds forced it on other countries too that really started us on this path of not being able to repair?
Let's quit making it illegal for someone to poke around and hack into their own purchased equipment and sharing Information on it...that's a good start.
Sure, the manufacturers are lobbying for it, but govt. jumped on that boat a LONG time ago already.
As for all the green, planned obscelence....I dunno about legislating that really.
I saw let the EU stick their collective toes in that water and see how that works for them and their businesses before we adopt our government legislating how our private businesses do business.
Aside from a few sensible regulations, I really don't want govt that involved in the private sector..that's not their job at least in the US, which is kind answering the GP of this thread.
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Oil fracking on borrowed money with speculation [ft.com] paying the bills for example
Re: Anybody getting sick of the EU doing it for us (Score:4)
Re:Anybody getting sick of the EU doing it for us? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Anybody getting sick of the EU doing it for us? (Score:5, Insightful)
I have heard the same argument from people who have not graduated high school. They don't just call the right to repair "a descent into totalitarianism", but things like public health, roads, and the electric grid "socialist constructs".
Infrastructure and being able to fix something you legally purchased is not totalitarianism. That is just common sense.
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Say what you want, but Europeans will be able to swap batteries or screen or whatever in their device, or even repair their tractor! Incredible for an american to understand, I agree.
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or even repair their tractor! Incredible for an american to understand, I agree.
Repairing a tractor is what Uncle Wilbur was doing when he lost his thumb, every American has an Uncle Wilbur.
Re:Anybody getting sick of the EU doing it for us? (Score:4, Interesting)
"Addressing these issues"? What they are doing is forcing solutions on everyone by government fiat. That's not an advance, that's a classic descent into totalitarianism. It's also classic that there are a bunch of numb-nuts cheering them on.
And your mindset is one that'll result in MegaCorp deciding everything in your life and by the time you realise that big business have taken away any remaining rights you had and you exist purely to serve as a slave to the big corporation it'll be too late.
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And your mindset is one that'll result in MegaCorp deciding everything in your life...
Right. And we all know that is the GOVERNMENT'S responsibility.
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Make reality match the ideal by voting AGAINST every single asshat who says Corporations are people my friend.
Re:Anybody getting sick of the EU doing it for us? (Score:4, Informative)
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The market is clearly failing here, so yeah I'll be one of those "numb-nuts" and will continue to vote as such.
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You don't live in the USA do you? but I assume you know more about us than 40% of our citizens do... It's a total disgrace where some groups will shame you simply for being ashamed of how embarrassing so many things are.
It's like a movie character... spoiled rich brat ignorant know-it-all who thinks they are better than everybody who never has had to face the truth before, and I'm not talking about the US president (who authentically represents that half the nation.)
Just mobiles and laptops? (Score:4, Insightful)
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I don't need to repair or reuse a banana or diaper.
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I don't need to repair or reuse a banana or diaper.
I can see it now: Chiquita requires you agree to the TOS when purchasing their bananas. Opening the banana or re-configuring the internals is a violation of those TOS and can be prosecuted. Not to mention any behavior with their banana that they consider inappropriate! Consumers shall be held responsible for any theoretical damage to their intellectual property or brand.
Yes. I am fine with it applying to goods other than mobiles and laptops.
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Uum, *planting* bananas? (Score:3)
The ability to grow crops from the seeds of the fruits you buy *should* be enforced by law! (Fuck sterile Cavendish clones! Gros Michel did not die out! In many countries, it is available or even the most common!)
And yes, diapers used to be, and for many modern parents are again, reusable towels! It's actually the most popular choice where I live.
Use your head, please.
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Why not if my banana is broken and I have the skill to fix it why shouldn't I? The banana producer shouldn't legally limit that ability or intentionally make it harder for me to do so. Maybe I am going to invent banana glue, for this prevalent world wide problem.
Seriously even your straw man of example single use products, which the original post clearly wasn't meaning isn't bad if that right existed.
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After which point it's a banana bread ingredient.
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Comment removed (Score:3)
Re: One of those times the market can't decide (Score:1)
No, a lot of formers have the capability to perform their own repairs, not needing to hire a tradesman. I work for a living repairing ag equipment and work with farmers every day.
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I suspect you know some farmers that would like to fix the equipment problem they have at 9 o'clock at night. No,m I don't expect you to trundle out in the middle of the night, though if you do more the power to ya.
Somehow I think the Deere tech will schedule work during more convenient hours. Time lost.
Re: One of those times the market can't decide (Score:1)
During planting or harvest, farmers sometimes need to fix equipment right out in the field. Many farming operations are time critical. It can't wait two weeks for an 'authorized technician' to make a visit.
Software Rights (Score:1)
need easy swap batterys (Score:2)
need easy swap batterys
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I'm sure the likes of Apple and John Deere will f
order spare parts that they can stock and no retur (Score:2)
order spare parts that they can stock in store and no return pricing.
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Those practices need to be seen for what they are, restraint of trade. The bricking itself needs to be illegal since it is nothing more or less than an attempt to destroy the market. It's exactly like hiring goons to smash the shop across the street that has been prospering by undercutting your prices.
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Hell, even forcing OEMs to sell original quality replacement batteries would be a big improvement.
Nothing like forcing repairers into grey-market counterfeit hell to buy the part of their phone/laptop/gizmo that can combust.
In principle (Score:3)
its a good thing. Right to repair is of course a right. And I find it offensive that any natural right has to be explicitly enshrined in law to prevent steppers and assholes from being tyrants. But it is what it is.
However, I'm confident that the EU will probably find some way to fuck it up. Either the law will be written in such a way that it can be circumvented, it will fail to keep up with technological advances (a common issue with government mandates regarding tech), or out of spite the tech companies will take their ball home and only provide cut rate products to the EU. Introducing the new iPhone FuckEU edition, it meets the government mandated minimum but good luck getting software updates, accessories, access to the app ecosystem or anything else. In fact its just a repacked Nokia 8810.
The last one is ridiculous, but it would be funny to see.
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What we might see happen is the iPhone be repairable, but apps not function if authorized parts are not used, and the phone is not re-activated by an authorized Apple tech. We see this with Android, because if you have a non-"blessed" firmware, things like GPay, Netflix, and other critical stuff will just refuse to work.
Technically the hardware is up to par with the law, but with the precedent that software makers can do what they want, no matter what, it would be incredibly hard to turn that tide.
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Apple already does that, and already had a legal battle with a euro based repair shop. I suspect that may have helped set this whole thing off. I figure there is a decent chance the potential law would explicitly ban parts drm. But then again, I already think there is a good chance the EU will somehow fuck it up. So why not fuck it up that way?
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its a good thing. Right to repair is of course a right. And I find it offensive that any natural right has to be explicitly enshrined in law to prevent steppers and assholes from being tyrants.
Just because you may have a right to something doesn't mean someone else has to support your right.
Have the right to fix something. Go ahead and fix it. That shouldn't create an obligation to ensure you have everything you need to do so. That should be up to you to figure out, along with figuring out how to fix it.
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But it does create an obligation not to make repairs difficult just for the sake of it.
Re: In principle (Score:2)
I donâ(TM)t think that it does. One may create a law to require that though.
You can blame lobbyists for those "fuck-ups". (Score:2)
At least for most of them, in my experience.
Remember: They got armies of treasonous traitors (aka "lobbyists") launching a war at them right as we speak. Not few of which being actual politicians sitting a few chairs over, who got in through revolving doors or other shenanigans. And of course the usual bunch of standard issue complete idiots.
So remember that, every time you confuse lobbyists with the/a (legitimate) government.
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For the last one, it would be even funnier to see that make room for a new competitor who then eats Apple's lunch in other markets as well.
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I'll just make it a bit more confusing by just stating how it works.
The EU makes a directive, not a law. The directive has to be implemented in law by all member countries of the EU, and so you end up with one country having it enshrined in law in one way, while in another country it's enshrined in another way. This makes sure that the confusion is complete.
You think you are good at bureaucracy? We can do it a lot better!
Incomimg (Score:1)
This is a great cause (Score:2)
I'll raise a double Big Mac [mcdonalds.com] to a swift end of climate change.
I hope they call it the "FYA" (fire!) law. (Score:2)
For: :)
Fuck
You
Apple
NOT "European" law makers! (Score:2)
EU law makers!
Jesus Christ, this is like US-Americans calling east-Asians "Asians", or themselves "Americans". Learn to tell countries from unions from states, you're not a child!
Many products not designed to be repaired at all (Score:2)
Will the EU now force all companies to make all consumer products repairable?
Now, for things with CAN be repaired, I agree firms should be compelled to allow users and 3rrd parties to be able to.
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Apple made the T2 chip so that you can't repair Apple laptops
I call bullshit. (Score:3)
Smartphones didn't get smaller or lighter.
Just anorexic for no fucking sane reason, and got shorter lasting batteries as a result.
My last phone was a Blackview BV6000. Looked exactly like any other smartphone with a (rather good-looking rugged) protective hull, which people put around thosr cheap devices anyway.
But it not only was assembled with screws... the damn manufacturer put up a disassembly/reassembly video!
And the only reason it was heavier, is because it had a battery twice as large as comparable s
Re: I call bullshit. (Score:1)
Most people who buy a thin phone end up putting it in a big fat protective case.
They do so specifically because the phone is constructed to be thin and rather frail.
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So yes, things can be built to be repairable and still look nice and work ok.
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Not necessarily.
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardow... [ifixit.com]
iPhones are among the most compact and beautiful, and yet, the iPhone 11 Pro Max has a very respectable repairability score of 6/10. iPhones in general are surprisingly easy to repair... if you have the parts.
The reason the score it isn't higher are:
- The use of proprietary screws: no other reason than to make things harder for you
- Waterproofing: that one is fair
- The glass back, that is both fragile and difficult to replace: an aesthetic choice. BTW, I thin