FTC Wants To Add Right To Repair To Existing Energy Saving Rules (vice.com) 34
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced this week that it's thinking about updating its energy labeling rules to require manufacturers to provide people with repair instructions. From a report: According to the press release on the FTC website, the commission wants to revise its energy-saving Energy Guide Rules, and is looking for public comment. "We look forward to hearing from the public on our initiative to reduce energy costs, promote competition, and strengthen repairability," Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in the press release. "As prices rise, the Commission will continue to take aggressive action to protect consumers' pocketbooks and strengthen their right to repair their own products."
You've probably seen the yellow label on some appliances like your water heater or the back of your refrigerator. The FTC run program tells consumers how much energy the product uses in a year and what that might cost you. The proposed expansion would also make manufacturers share repair instructions with its customers. "Repairing a product instead of replacing it is one of the best ways to cut down the environmental impact of our appliances. Including repair requirements as part of the Energy Guide program is the right thing for the planet and important for consumers," Nathan Proctor, PIRG's Senior Right to Repair Campaign Director, said in a press release after the announcement.
You've probably seen the yellow label on some appliances like your water heater or the back of your refrigerator. The FTC run program tells consumers how much energy the product uses in a year and what that might cost you. The proposed expansion would also make manufacturers share repair instructions with its customers. "Repairing a product instead of replacing it is one of the best ways to cut down the environmental impact of our appliances. Including repair requirements as part of the Energy Guide program is the right thing for the planet and important for consumers," Nathan Proctor, PIRG's Senior Right to Repair Campaign Director, said in a press release after the announcement.
Yes, this a thousand times (Score:1, Offtopic)
I just ate a $700 replacement fee on my iPad because the bastards literally spent 1 minute with it on their repair efforts. They even emailed me the "repair log" showing they opened the box at 1:52pm and flagged it for replacement at 1:53pm. Wasted my time waiting for it to ship, then they shipped me replacement, etc etc burning fuel and people time in both directions with no attempt at repair.
All for a bad usb c power port and optionally a new battery.
What a fucking scam.
Will The Rules Be Effective? (Score:3)
Like anything the US government does, the devil will be in the details.
How enforceable will these rules actually be? Rules that only result in "hand slap fines" and "shame on you letters" are useless.
How many loopholes will these rules actually contain? Creating loopholes is a form of political payoff when a lobbying effort is strong enough to stop a new rule.
How narrowly defined will these rules be? Will these rules only impact very specific industries and very specific product segments?
Re: (Score:2)
ok lets be a little bit fair... the kind of stuff Curious Marc repairs with those glorious manuals the smallest component is a TO92 package or a flashlight bulb, and everything is secured to a giant metal frame with 10-24 bolts
Re: Agreed... (Score:2)
Planned obsolesence should be punishible by death.
Re: (Score:2)
I watch MarcoReps and CuriousMarc out on You-Tube
Don't forget Adrian's Digital Basement [youtube.com] Great old tech, component-level repair.
Locked Bootloaders (Score:3)
There are probably a billion old cell phones with decent hardware and locked bootloaders that could get support from an environmental nonprofit.
Good to see FTC recognizing the environmental cost of replacement.
Re:Locked Bootloaders (Score:4, Interesting)
Doesn't matter.
Any progress made will be destroyed the second a right wing admin comes in. Just like in the prior couple admins, they make it a point to roll back any advances made in human rights, anti-trust, anti-monopoly, etc.
And since they've obstructed everything in the senate, nothing can get passed into law.
Thus the conservatives are living up to their names. Allow nothing to change, allow the country to stagnate, and allow the voters to get increasingly upset.
Re: (Score:2)
Those cell phones just need new batteries, ones that work as well as the originals and not cheap Chinese knockoffs with only half their advertised capacity and last only a year. Also, the batteries need to be user replaceable without needing a hair dryer to melt the glues.
Let's also get rid of DRM for ink cartridges and coffee pods and whatever else manufacturers can think up.
Also require that videogame consoles be able to run homebrew after the console goes out of production.
Re: (Score:2)
I doubt it really matters all that much. Because even a 10 year old cellphone is getting useless as 3G support is dropped by carriers over the next year or two.
Right to Repair is great, but given the whole point of cellphones is the service itself, when providers drop support for it, it becomes an iso
The courts will shut it down (Score:2, Troll)
Stop doing that (Score:4, Insightful)
If the people in power want a right to repair for everyone, have Congress pass a law. Not an ineffective, watered-down "rule" but instead a true law which would come from - wait for it - the Capitol Building. That's where laws come from - not the White House or the Supreme Court or the CDC or the FTC.
Stop trying to do an end run around the Constitution.
Re: (Score:2)
That making new laws is hard is not the problem, it is the point. To say that it is okay to break the rules because following them is hard is not the sort of argument reasonable people should be making. Not without slinking away in shame to rethink their lives.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, according to TFA:
“When Congress passed energy conservation policies decades ago, it included the ability to require Right to Repair access. While that provision has gone unnoticed for too long, it’s not surprising it was written that way—strong Right to Repair protections are in several long-standing laws,” Proctor said.
Hear Hear! (Score:2)
It's long overdue (Score:1)
It's so much more environmentally friendly for an appliance to last 30+ years than to replace it every 6 years. Take it one step further and we get standardized replacement parts in standardized sizes. Then you can have a Ship of Theseus appliance lasting multiple generations.
Re: (Score:2)
1: DMCA. Jailbreak protection is considered IP protection under the DMCA...
The DMCA is a law. Some of it is made necessary by treaty, but restrictions on jailbreaking are not. Businesses and individuals are NOT bound by treaties at all. Legislatures may be bound by treaty to enact laws that are binding on businesses and individuals.
2: Lawsuits, lawsuits, and lawsuits. Someone does an "instructions unclear" gets their dingy stuck in a ceiling fan, turns around and sues the manufacturer.
A popular dodge but not born out by a couple centuries of history. Please cite a lawsuit won by the plaintiff brought due to self-repair related injury.
3: People are not trained engineers.
And yet somehow they manage to install Windows and a host of other software. Or at least hire a 3rd
Re: (Score:2)
The liability argument doesn't hold, that is easily waived. The IP argument doesn't hold, property rights are not violated by repairs. As for profit, I don't know why you would even bring that up, it is not relevant nor is your portrayal of the matter accurate.
Excuse me can I get the manual (Score:2)
Re: Excuse me can I get the manual (Score:2)
Well put. Restricting self repair from the people turns them stupid. If it was allowed there would be no shortage of STEM workers. Any average Joe could learn the basics of functional repair and bootstrap themselves into a knowledegable position of any and all kinds of technology.
They should also require a definite product life. (Score:3)
Sorry buddy, that will require congress to change (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Again, from TFA (emphasis added):
. . . I’m thrilled that the FTC is stepping up to enforce those laws and protect repair, and I hope other agencies join them in standing up for repair.”
And here comes the GOP (Score:2)
Just wait until the GOP sues to outlaw this because it will take money away from the companies.
Just like they sued to outlaw the college loan forgiveness because it would not let the original loan holders make as MUCH money as they would have.
Pro company anti widgets (anyone not C level)
Re: (Score:2)
suspicious (Score:2)
There are already infinite repair instructions on the internet for almost everything. I'm suspicious that the current fascist FTC will find a way to make all non-"official" repair instructions illegal.