iFixit: We’re Calling on the FTC to Restore Our Right to Repair::Today, we’re calling on the US Federal Trade Commission to introduce new rules protecting our Right to Repair everything we own.
[…] protecting our Right to Repair everything we own.
See, that’s the issue right there
You will own nothing and you’ll be happy?
Both sad and hilarious.
Easily fixed. Right to repair anything we own or licensed to us where we have exchanged money for a product whether that be physical cash or electronic transfer or have received for free via a promotion. Anything else?
Good on ifixit. Those are reasonable requests, that can be more or less ignored or loopholed, with the real meat and potatoes being the repairability score.
Because, contrary to what some angry libertarian blowhards yell into a camera daily, not every device is or should be repairable. Microchips kind of demonstrated that. Where possible, boards SHOULD be replaceable. But “repair” of those devices is a lot closer to “get a new video card” than “swap out the burn out cap”. Like, in terms of the parts Apple offers, I have zero issues (I do have a LOT of issues with their malicious compliance in how they offer those, though).
But that repairability score will solve this. Questionable design philosophies aside, Framework Laptops are a great example of this. They are a worse product than an ultrabook from one of the main vendors, but people will gladly get a “worse” product if it can be repaired and/or upgraded. And I can see the same tradeoffs applying to phones and the like.
Identical components from two identical devices ought to be interchangeable without manufacturer intervention
I’m mixed on this. On one hand, I hoarded laptop parts to repair mine when Apple purged Amazon’s site of 3rd party sales. (That should not have been allowed, but another topic for another day) But on the other hand, I’ve had a device stolen and harvested for parts and these annoying locks probably disrupt that market.
I would suggest, if a repair involves a manufacturer intervention, that it be readily available and free for verified owners.
