this post was submitted on 09 Feb 2024
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Apple Is Lobbying Against Right to Repair Six Months After Supporting Right to Repair (www.404media.co)
submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
63 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Key Points:

  • Apple opposed a right-to-repair bill in Oregon, despite previously supporting a weaker one in California.
  • The key difference is Oregon's restriction on "parts pairing," which locks repairs to Apple or authorized shops.
  • Apple argues this protects security and privacy, but critics say it creates a repair monopoly and e-waste.
  • Apple claims their system eases repair and maintain data security, while Google doesn't have such a requirement
  • Apple refused suggestions to revise the bill
  • Cybersecurity experts argue parts pairing is unnecessary for security and hinders sustainable repair.
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[–] [email protected] 67 points 9 months ago (3 children)

It's crazy that Apple is lauded as having amazing designers and engineers, but they can't make easily repairable devices. It's almost like that's the point...

[–] [email protected] 19 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

Ooooh. I have a story for this.

I was a student at Purdue and one of the freshmen "engineering hype" lectures had people from industry come say why they're so cool, etc. Now, this was specifically an electrical and computer engineering course, not the whole engineering school. These are the people who tore apart their various electronics for fun and made cool stuff using parts from RadioShack (RIP).

Apple came to one. First red flag: she started with "don't tell anyone we were here". Weird, but whatever. She proceeded with her spiel and, after however long, got to the Q&A bit. Someone raised their hand and asked this: "why does Apple solder RAM into their devices". This woman said, and I quote, "It is the position of Apple that the consumer has no right to change the product after it has been sold". With a straight fucking face. Jaws dropped. There was a solid 10 seconds of silence while all these nerds (I include myself here) processed such a blatant anti-consumer (and anti-us if we're being honest) statement. This was in 2010 (+/- 1 year).

She finished up and left a few minutes later. No doubt some of my classmates went on to work for them, but it set my passionate hatred for Apple in stone right there. Don't care how nice their devices are, even if my husband uses his apple devices all the time (the walled garden works well for his needs), I will never purchase an Apple product for myself.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 9 months ago (2 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

Guy must have been talking about that then. This was one of my rare clear memories. I had no idea about it at the time till that guy asked.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Thanks for the fact check!

[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Can't vs won't. I have no doubt that they could do it, but apple didn't get to be one of the most powerful companies in the world by doing the thing that is cheaper for the user.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 months ago

Oddly, these hard to repair things in apples case are actually cheaper because of it, and probably in many cases makes them more durable due to less failure points.

The problems only come up if/when something does fail.

Having to replace a whole board instead of just the ram isn't cheaper, but that board per unit is cheaper.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 9 months ago

They have, but they are not in charge. Apple's goal is to make money; everything else comes as an afterthought.