Slashdot Mirror
Apple Is Lobbying Against Your Right To Repair iPhones, New York State Records Confirm (vice.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Lobbying records in New York state show that Apple, Verizon, and the tech industry's largest trade organizations are opposing a bill that would make it easier for consumers and independent companies to repair your electronics. The bill, called the "Fair Repair Act," would require electronics companies to sell replacement parts and tools to the general public, would prohibit "software locks" that restrict repairs, and in many cases would require companies to make repair guides available to the public. Apple and other tech giants have been suspected of opposing the legislation in many of the 11 states where similar bills have been introduced, but New York's robust lobbying disclosure laws have made information about which companies are hiring lobbyists and what bills they're spending money on public record. According to New York State's Joint Commission on Public Ethics, Apple, Verizon, Toyota, the printer company Lexmark, heavy machinery company Caterpillar, phone insurance company Asurion, and medical device company Medtronic have spent money lobbying against the Fair Repair Act this year. The Consumer Technology Association, which represents thousands of electronics manufacturers, is also lobbying against the bill. The records show that companies and organizations lobbying against right to repair legislation spent $366,634 to retain lobbyists in the state between January and April of this year. Thus far, the Digital Right to Repair Coalition -- which is generally made up of independent repair shops with several employees -- is the only organization publicly lobbying for the legislation. It has spent $5,042 on the effort, according to the records.
They don't help you meet. They pretend to help you while they actually don't. Before internet and smartphones people met more frequently. Now people meet less frequently.
They are designed to break. The screen is made from glass. In some models even the backside of the phone is made from glass. How much more fragile can it get, I'm sure we will find out. Touchscreens do not need fragile glass to function. Manufacturers need the fragile glass to sell more overpriced spare glasses. Check out the prices and you will see for yourself.
They are designed to be hard and expensive to fix.
- The touch-part of the touchscreen, digitizer, is sometimes glued to the screen. It does not have to be but it is to make the glass harder to replace when it shatters.
- The battery does not have to be nonstandard but it is to make it harder to replace.
- The OS does not have to be hard to update without limit. But it is to make the phone age and force the user to buy a new one.
- Everything in a smartphone is nonstandard and new models are made every year with slight changes. To prevent 3rd party spare parts makers from offering cheaper alternatives.
- Even the OS, while Android, is nonstandard. Because of that, each and every phone model needs a different ROM.
- The OS is handicapped on purpose, making it far less capable than a real desktop computer OS. That way old desktop programs can be sold again on mobile OS where they feel new and exciting.