“It’s no secret that the tech industry really hates third-party repairs, whether they’re in the form of an unlicensed business, or just a device owner tinkering with their own property,” Kaloyan C. writes for phoneArena. “In a bid to combat them, Apple, along with several other tech companies, is heavily opposing a set of so-called ‘right to repair’ bills in eight American states, which would require easy access to tools and knowledge regarding electronic device repairs.”
“One such case is a Nebraska bill, known as LB67 or the Fair Repair Act, which is scheduled to be debated this Thursday. If passed, it will become the first such measure in the United States,” C. writes. “If LB67 becomes law, it would require tech companies such as Apple to make their diagnostic tools and service manuals publicly available to consumers and repair shops alike.”
“Apple is spearheading the campaign against the bill, and in doing so uses scary and misleading rhetoric, such as claiming Nebraska will become a ‘mecca for bad actors,’ and that passing the bill ‘would make it very easy for hackers to relocate to Nebraska,'” C. writes. “The company appears to have concerns regarding its intellectual property, as the act would require tech companies to freely share previously non-public information, even though the text of the proposal explicitly states the following: ‘Nothing in the Fair Repair Act shall be construed to require an original equipment manufacturer to divulge a trade secret.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out.
As we wrote yesterday:
Using authorized channels is the only way to ensure you are getting genuine Apple parts and that the repair will be done to the right specifications. With so many second-hand smartphones, for example, being sold and re-sold, how are buyers to know their battery is the genuine part and that it was correctly installed? How safe are would these smartphones be to have on airplanes, for example?
Certainly it can be dangerous to mishandle/damage lithium batteries during DYI repairs and the results can injure not just the repairer.
What if somebody’s half-assed DIY battery installation burns down an apartment building at 3am or sets fire to a plane in flight? When even Samsung can’t fix their own batteries correctly, we doubt every single Joe and Jane Sixpack would be able to manage a perfect battery installation every single time. It only takes one mistake to cause a tragedy.
SEE ALSO:
Right to repair: Why Nebraska farmers are taking on John Deere and Apple – March 6, 2017
Right-to-Repair is ridiculous – February 16, 2017
Apple said to fight ‘Right to Repair’ legislation – February 15, 2017