Companies that sell refrigerators, washers, hairdryers, or TVs in the European Union will need to ensure those appliances can be repaired for up to 10 years, to help reduce the vast mountain of electrical waste that piles up each year on the continent. Euronews reports: The “right to repair,” as it is sometimes called, comes into force across the 27-nation bloc…
Tag: Right to Repair
European Parliament Votes For Right To Repair
In a landmark move, the European Parliament voted today to support consumers’ Right to Repair. The resolution was adopted with 395 in favor and just 94 against, with 207 abstentions. iFixit reports: “By adopting this report, the European Parliament sent a clear message: harmonized mandatory labelling indicating durability and tackling premature obsolescence at EU level are the way forward,” said Rapporteur…
Is Right to Repair Gaining Momentum?
“A movement known as ‘right to repair’ is starting to make progress in pushing for laws that prohibit restrictions…” reports the New York Times:
This August, Democrats introduced a bill in Congress to block manufacturers’ limits on medical devices, spurred by the pandemic. In Europe, the European Commission announced plans in March for new right-to-repair rules that would cover phones, tablets, and…
Tesla Can Detect Aftermarket Hacks Designed To Defeat EV Performance Paywalls
As recently highlighted by a Tesla Model 3 owner on Reddit, your connected car knows when you’ve hacked it, and it might be logging that data to use against you in a future warranty claim. The Drive reports: The image you see above is a warning message popped up on the man’s Model 3 infotainment screen after he installed the latest…
Apple Emails Reveal Internal Debate on Right to Repair
Tim Cook didn’t reveal anything new during his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. But emails his company shared with the committee spoke volumes. These internal discussions reveal that what looks like Apple’s united front against Right to Repair is really an internal debate, rife with uncertainty. From a report: The New York Times editorial in favor of Right to…
Right to Repair Advocates Accuse Medical Device Manufacturers of Profiteering
A new Motherboard article interviews William, a ventilator refurbisher who’s repaired at least 70 broken ventilators that he’s bought on eBay and from other secondhand websites, then sold to U.S. hospitals and governments to help handle a spike in COVID-19 patients. He’s part of a grey-market supply chain that’s “essentially identical to one used by farmers to repair John Deere tractors…
‘Project BioMed’ Fights for the Right to Repair Medical Devices
Long-time Slashdot reader chicksdaddy writes: One of the less-reported stories of this pandemic is the myriad of ways in which COVID has exposed changes to the medical device market and the increasingly draconian software licensing practices that have made servicing and repairing medical devices much more difficult, slow and expensive. In its latest episode, Security Ledger Podcast goes behind the scenes…
Right-to-Repair Groups Don’t Buy Apple’s Answers To Congress
Last week, Apple responded to a series of questions that the US House Judiciary Committee sent to it back in September as part of a broader antitrust probe. Apple answered a series of questions about its hardware repair programs. It emphasized that it doesn’t restrict repairs or refuse to repair gadgets that might have been fixed previously by unauthorized technicians. For…
Lawmaker Kills Repair Bill Because ‘Cellphones Are Throwaways’
The New Hampshire State House rejected the Digital Fair Repair Act earlier this week in part thanks to a representative who seems to think that cell phones are literally garbage that no one should bother repairing. From a report: The bill would have forced manufacturers such as Apple to share repair manuals and parts with independent repair stores. House members didn’t…
EU Brings In ‘Right To Repair’ Rules For Appliances
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: Household appliances will become easier to repair thanks to new standards being adopted across the European Union. From 2021, firms will have to make appliances longer-lasting, and they will have to supply spare parts for machines for up to 10 years. The rules apply to lighting, washing machines, dishwashers and fridges. But…