Back in October, Apple jumped on the bandwagon for Right to Repair legislation in California and then moved to make it nationwide. iFixit doesn’t think it’s enough, though.
Earlier this week, iFixit, sent a petition to the Federal Trade Commision calling for stronger Right to Repair rules that would serve the consumer better.
Its petition points out some of the “blocks” that hardware manufacturers placed in the way of customers and repair shops to keep them from actually repairing their electronics. Some of these measures include proprietary screws and software blocks. Apple is notably the worst offender in that space.
iFixit would like for the FTC to think about and implement the following changes:
- Consumable components should be replaceable and readily available throughout a product’s usable lifespan.
- Components that commonly break should be replaceable and readily available as repair parts.
- Consumers should be able to choose to take damaged products to a repair shop of their choice, or perform a repair themselves.
- When a manufacturer discontinues support for a product, its key functions should remain intact, and an independent repair shop should be able to continue to perform repairs.
- Identical components from two identical devices should be interchangeable without manufacturer intervention. (This is not the case with Apple devices).
- Independent repair shops should not be required to report customers’ personally identifiable information to the manufacturer.
I’m inclined to agree here. It’s nice to see iFixit trying to push the bar higher.
Source: MacRumors
