Apple Is Telling Lawmakers People Will Hurt Themselves if They Try To Fix iPhones (vice.com) 273
In recent weeks, an Apple representative and a lobbyist for CompTIA, a trade organization that represents big tech companies, have been privately meeting with legislators in California to encourage them to kill legislation that would make it easier for consumers to repair their electronics Motherboard has learned. From a report: According to two sources in the California State Assembly, the lobbyists have met with members of the Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee, which is set to hold a hearing on the bill Tuesday afternoon. The lobbyists brought an iPhone to the meetings and showed lawmakers and their legislative aides the internal components of the phone. The lobbyists said that if improperly disassembled, consumers who are trying to fix their own iPhone could hurt themselves by puncturing the lithium-ion battery, the sources, who Motherboard is not naming because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said. The argument is similar to one made publicly by Apple executive Lisa Jackson in 2017 at TechCrunch Disrupt, when she said the iPhone is "too complex" for normal people to repair them. The bill has been pulled by its sponsor, Susan Talamantes-Eggman: "It became clear that the bill would not have the support it needed today, and manufacturers had sown enough doubt with vague and unbacked claims of privacy and security concerns," she said.
Do they sell you protection? (Score:5, Funny)
It would be a real shame if something happened to you while fixing your iPhone....right Rocko?
Starting at $5.99 per month. (Score:2)
damage repair fees +
Re:Do they sell you protection? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm just glad Apple is looking out for their customers with this move. In an era of rampant corporate greed, It's rare to see such a principled stance by a large corporation.
Putting the customer experience above all else; including the customers agency and right to use their property as they see fit. Kudos Apple for this refreshing move!!
Re: Do they sell you protection? (Score:5, Insightful)
Wow did ithat fly right over your head. The statement conversely presents that apple assumes there users are idiots and incapable of deciding for themselves what risks are justified, so they demoted their entire customer base to subhuman retards
Pretty sure you're the one with the whoosh and missed the implied sarcasm...
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reverse whooshing: when the whooshee becomes the whoosher!
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The statement conversely presents that apple assumes there users are idiots and incapable of deciding for themselves what risks are justified, so they demoted their entire customer base to subhuman retards
As an iPhone owner, at least I can spell "their" :P
Of course my phone wants to auto-correct that to cucumber, but that's beside the point.
Re: Do they sell you protection? (Score:4, Insightful)
Why do you think everyone jumped on the water proofing bandwagon? Because you get to glue the shit out of everything to make it waterproof..... and if anyone tries to open the phone up to repair, they have to slice thru the phone and destroy the glue seal in the process making it no longer waterproof.
Brilliant move. Almost every phone company does the same thing.
Well yeah... (Score:5, Informative)
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I took a flat edged mini screwdriver to mine to pry open the case from the glass and sliced my hand open!
You're using the wrong tool. There's a stiff plastic tool specifically for that purpose that's much less likely to cut your hand.
Re:Well yeah... (Score:5, Funny)
plus he was holding it wrong
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Also, you have to actually heat the glue in order to separate the screen from the body in one piece.
Re:Well yeah... (Score:4, Informative)
Also, you have to actually heat the glue in order to separate the screen from the body in one piece.
I assume that he's doing that, but maybe not. I have a heat gun. You have to be careful to apply enough heat to soften the glue but not enough to damage the electronics (or melt the solder). Really, the parts and tools aren't hard to come by. Most of the repairs I do amounts to replacing the battery on older, out-of-warranty devices, for the small subset of Apple owners who want to keep the device they have rather than standing out in the cold waiting for the store to open when a newer model comes out.
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The iFixIt iOpener is really good for this. You heat it in the microwave and then it applies heat evenly and consistently, and there is no danger of cooking anything if you follow the instructions. You also get some plastic pry tools with it that are decent and don't scratch up the device if you are careful with them.
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Solder for electronics generally melts at temperatures over 200C. You'd be hard pressed melting solder with a heat gun.
Um, we're not talking about a hair dryer, but a real commercial heat gun. I can very definitely melt solder with it. (And have.)
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You do know that heat guns are used for reflowing solder, right?
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Secret repair tip:
Set your oven to exactly 425 f
Place iPhone face down on a baking sheet.
Bake for about an hour , maybe two.
This secret tip can fix any iphone
That's, like, putting it in the microwave to recharge it?
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Also, you have to actually heat the glue in order to separate the screen from the body in one piece.
This requires at least 12 seconds in a microwave, or 15 seconds if you're above 4,000 feet in elevation.
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You can definitely use a microwave [ifixit.com] for this.
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How do you plan to legally differentiate between "a knowledgeable and skilled repair person" and "the idiot who is going to take out the battery and pound a nail through it while standing in a pool of gasoline"?
If you're going to separate those two groups in regards to what they can do under the law, you're going to have to come up with a way to delineate those groups.
Or you just let anyone do it, and have to evaluate each gasoline-soaked case individually in a lawsuit
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How do you plan to legally differentiate between "a knowledgeable and skilled repair person" and "the idiot who is going to take out the battery and pound a nail through it while standing in a pool of gasoline"?
I think that's precisely why right to repair legislation should succeed. The world desparately needs more Darwin.
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Knives and cooking appliances are dangerous too, how do you propose separating those who are safe to operate them and those who aren't?
Household electricity is dangerous, how do we separate those who are allowed to have electricity from those who aren't?
Household heating is dangerous in all its various forms, how do we decide who's allowed?
Heights are dangerous, how do we decide who's allowed access to anything more than 3' tall? We'd better evict everyone from any home that has more than one storey incase
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Knives and cooking appliances are dangerous too, how do you propose separating those who are safe to operate them and those who aren't?
I don't. Instead, lawsuits against knife and cooking appliance manufactures get to the point of deciding whether or not it was reasonable to juggle large chef's knives while naked and standing over a deep fryer. Most likely the result will be a ruling of "you're an idiot, don't do that" and the lawsuit ends.
But it costs more than quickly filing a "you aren't allowed to open your device" response.
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It's not about disclosure, they're just trying to enforce their monopoly on repairing their hardware and charging whatever they'd like to do it.
That's the whole point of the legislation (Score:5, Insightful)
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Maybe it was designed to blow the hand off of whoever tried to repair it. Accidentally, of course.
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If they just had a clip-up back or some little screws, and didn't glue the battery in there would be a 0% chance of injuring yourself when trying to just replace a consumable part of the phone.
I'm a little surprised that they haven't started gluing their laptops together yet. Parts of them are glued or welded, but you can still get at the motherboard by removing screws. Microsoft is actually way ahead there - some of the Surface models are actually made out of glue.
Car Analogy (Score:2)
no, seriously, how many times have any of us backyard mechanics busted our knuckles or burnt our arms?
Where's the government to protect us and corporate profits from ourselves?
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Blood sacrifice, nice. Gotta be some way of stopping all that spam.
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Those PCB edges, man. You're screwing something in, the tip slips, and yeah now there's a spot of blood you can laugh at next time you open the case of the Thing.
Blood makes it yours (Score:3)
The battery is only 3V so a surprise but nothing like 20 from a laptop
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
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You can still own a phone with a battery. Use some double sided tape and one of those charging banks, perhaps a 3D printed case and you'll approximate the same size and heft of those phones of yore.
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Legends speak of a time when phones were designed with batteries that could not only be replaced by the user, but indeed, swapped out without TOOLS!!!
That's ridiculous. The legends clearly lie.
---
Posted from my Note 4.
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Got bad news for you - the makers have always been able to tell you what you'd be buying. Because your choices were always limited to "what they made"....
Now, that said, it's true that NOT buying something can (and always did) send a message to the makers. If you won't buy what they're selling, they'll change what they're selling till it was something you'd buy (or could buy, in some cases)....
IOW, the people complaining about not be
Re:I know you’ll all be skeptical, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
"don't buy it" is a trivial message even from the collective. OnePlus polled users re:headphone jack on next OP phone, then took it offline when the majority sentiment was contrary with what their plan was going to be. Twitter I think.
The plan didn't change. You'll buy what we give you, sheep.
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I think there's a very important component that people are missing. That is, the "replaceable packaging." The replaceable batteries within phones used to be packaged in a durable packaging. Something that could take the (reasonable) abusive handling of an untrained individual. I happen to have an old Samsung S3 that I let my kids play with. It has a replaceable battery. You know how thick that battery is? Nearly as thick as my S8+. Today, in the pursuit of the ever thinner, ever more dense package
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On what OS? I charged once a week back during candybar/flipphone/blackberry.
I liked my pearl. Capable of arbitrary loading/viewing of music video and comics. Screen was like 320x400, but still.
I'm sure I could fuck over the battery if I wanted it so I could youtube and facetweet and webbrowser, and other bloated shit that runs at 500 times the overhead the actual content requires.
give me a spoon and fall it iFork (Score:2)
Shouldn't these phones be taken off the market? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Shouldn't these phones be taken off the market? (Score:5, Funny)
If Apple's phones have some kind of unusual safety problem that makes them too dangerous to repair (more dangerous than any car or gun, even!), then they're probably too dangerous to sell in the state of California, aren't they? It sounds like Apple needs to take their experimental products off the market instead of using innocent Californians, some of them probably even children, as their explosive device guinea pigs.
Brilliant. Let's re-introduce the fix-it bill, and at the same time start an "iphone is too dangerous to sell in the state of California" bill, and watch Apple flop about trying to combat both of them. Figure, if either wins, we all win.
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If i woke up tomorrow and every smartphone on the planet stopped working, and Facebook/Snapchat melted down, I would be convinced I must be in a coma and my mind was playing out a Utopian world. A Shangri-La. I can think of no other emergent technology that has been more disruptive than this. While there are some definite good features, even too much of a good thing has become very bad. Its like the 80s scifi movie Lifeforce, except its these devices stealing our lives away instead of an alien species.
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So what happens when apple won't let you change your battery and you can't dial 911 because the battery is dead on your 1 year old phone before the ride home after work. It used to last all day, so you had an expectation of emergency communication.
Might need to add that to your bill.
Seems backwards to me (Score:2)
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I'm betting the lobbyists brought in a highly-trained technician wearing a white labcoat, gloves, and goggles to perform the "dangerous" task for them.
As it goes.... (Score:2)
Just guess....
Because they glue them (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Because they glue them (Score:5, Informative)
Sites like ifixit have criticized Apple for years for gluing their parts down instead of screwing them in. It seems like they're intentionally making them hazardous to fix.
More likely, it's just easier to design very compact devices that are held together with glue rather than screws. Screws take up space, which means you don't want to use a lot of them, and if you don't use a lot of them then you have to design around the fact that the device is only held together at a few points.
If you just fill the case with glue, you get an essentially solid device. The glue holds it together at every point and even becomes a structural reinforcement, to make it more resistant to compression damage. So the result is easier to design, easier to assemble, and stronger -- but harder to fix.
Another reason... (Score:2)
TV's should be a focus as well (Score:5, Insightful)
I have a 55" toshiba TV that had a LED backlight strip go out. The TV refuses to power on when one goes out. Figured, "Oh I can just repair this myself!"
Had to find the part on ebay.
Took about 20 screws to get the TV open
Had to disconnect another 6 or 7 ribbon cables, No docs anywhere on how to do this.
Part didn't fit 100% correctly
Buttoned it all back up.
A year later another backlight went out.
I'm not feeling like going through this again, have a spare on hand, just don't feel like doing this again. Might buy a new TV.
TV backlights should be as easy to repair as, changing a light bulb. This isn't cathode ray tube TV's with flyback transformers that will send you flying back across the room if you touch a still charged one.
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TV backlights should be as easy to repair as, changing a light bulb.
Like WTF? No they should not. The ease of changing a lightbulb has resulted in a world of negative impacts on its design, part of them actually come full circle in that the design and fitting of the easy to swap bulb trap heat and cause them to break meaning they need to be swapped more frequently.
A TV backlight is not a consumable. That you (seemingly the only person in the world) got a dud doesn't mean some government needs to step in. After all you managed to repair it yourself didn't you? What kind of l
This is what walled gardens lead to (Score:2)
They have a point. (Score:2)
We are talking about Apple users after all.
troll troll troll your boat slowly up the stream.....
Absolutely. (Score:2)
This is the lawn dart again.
I absolutely, whole-heartedly agree that one can get hurt fiddling with electronics. Certainly, repairing the innards of a compact cell phone counts as such. I totally agree that there is a danger of getting seriously hurt by repairing your iphone.
I also agree that people (competent adults) should be allowed to hurt themselves. Yes, that includes today's version of "competent".
But we live in a world where it's bad to get hurt. Bad enough that it must have been illegal by some
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But we live in a world where it's bad to get hurt. Bad enough that it must have been illegal by someone.
It's not so much 'bad' as 'grounds for a lawsuit'.
Said lawsuit should fail, but Apple, et al still have to show up and fight it. Making it illegal means they can have the lawsuit thrown out very quickly and thus cheaply.
Still only 1 year warranty standard (Score:2)
One of Apple's claims for making 'sealed' devices is that the processes they now use that results in un-repairability supposedly increases reliability* - well if that's really the case, why haven't they increased their standard warranty from 1 year to, say, 3-5 years then?
(* not for keyboards, apparently)
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well if that's really the case, why haven't they increased their standard warranty from 1 year to, say, 3-5 years then?
Because supply and demand are not nearly as efficient as its acolytes believe.
Easy solution (Score:2)
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Yea apparently you don't understand the concept of capitalism where the idea is to make aa much profit as possible, not give you as much free stuff as possible.
Unskilled politos (Score:2)
I know we have a few politicians who are technical, but we really need more of them. I'm not sure how to increase the number, but it'd help in cases like this.
Hurting their bottom line (Score:2)
I've repaired a few thousand Iphones. I don't think I've ever even cut myself doing it. I've had blood pressure problems from crappy replacement screens but thats about it. How do these people come up with this garbage?
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There will be someone who decides they're going to "fix" the battery. By pounding a screwdriver into the battery to "open" it. They will be doing this repair in their garage, right next to a stack of improperly-stored flammable household chemicals.
Yes, it's really, really stupid. But we all know someone will do it.
"You can't legally repair it" ends the subsequent lawsuit very quickly and cheaply. If you can legally open the device and repair it, we now wander into arguing whether or not Apple should hav
It's true you can hurt yourself with an I-phone (Score:2)
If you shove it up your butt sideways.
Makes sense (Score:2)
Self-harm is often linked with depression. And looking upon the internals of one of these bad boys is likely to reduce a grown man to tears.
People can also stab themselves with screwdrivers (Score:2)
Do we stop selling screwdrivers because of that or make them illegal? No. Just require that anybody selling repair tools or instructions adds clear warnings for the battery. Problem solved. Incompetents will still hurt themselves, but that cannot be prevented, see subject. Competent people (and there are a lot) will get to do what they should be able to do all along.
Don't Complain; Buy Something Else (Score:5, Insightful)
The argument sounds to me like... (Score:3)
Apple, Tesla, John Deer, and the rest have made bad judgement on putting dangerous parts in their products.... to the point that it is dangerous for the end user to service them.
This is a liability problem on their part. Now they are trying to block the laws guaranteeing consumer rights to do what they will with their hardware, in an effort to avoid the liability.
We're at a point where we've allowed "licensing" of hardware, with limited rights for the consumer, and the producers are expecting to be paid to handle the things that the consumer is not "licensed" to do. Software IP licensing laws are being pigeon-holed into hardware sales, and these are the problems that arise.
If these hardware companies want to continue to restrict hardware rights via licensing agreements (move away from hardware ownership) they need to make up the difference *at their expense*, or face the liability that comes with customers servicing the hardware themselves.
It looks to me like these companies are doing pretty well with capitalism, but are trying to cut ownership out of the system..... Has this worked for any other industries?
Hurt myself? (Score:3)
After I went through all that trouble to file the pointy corners on my phone round.
pshaw (Score:2)
This is easy.
Just stick a standard lightning bolt in an upside down caution triangle and warn that it is not just not user servicable, but warn that a dangerous electric shock may result if they try.
It's not rocket science, and if someone defies a clear warning they're deliberately putting themselves at risk.
In effect, ignoring a caution is voiding the user's warranty on their own body.
Exhibit A in Apple's Work On iPhone Argument... (Score:2)
Living on the edge (Score:2)
New extreme sports: Extreme iPhone repairing!
Re:Seems partly true (Score:5, Insightful)
Exactly.
Just like how consumers are prohibited from repairing their own vehicles because it contains potentially explosive gasoline, corrosive acid and lead in the lead-acid battery, and (years ago) asbestos in the brake pads, and other corrosive fluids like brake fluid. The thing is a virtual death trap! Not to mention the thing being heavy, and a single jack failure could crush the consumer like a bug!
I'm pretty glad we banned car repairs in the great Consumer Protection Car Repair Ban act of 1952!
Good thinking SuperKendall. You're one of the smartest, most well informed people on all of Slashdot!
Re:Car battery good example (Score:4, Insightful)
You can't work in the battery in your car or phone, but you can replace it in either. It is generally safer to handle the battery in your car, at least from a combustion standpoint, but you chose a bad example to argue against. And dead shorting a car battery can cause a fire too, happened to me one time when a starter stuck in the on position without actually engaging. Battery got hot, started melting and actually caught fire, lol.
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You can replace the electrolyte in a car battery. I haven't looked, but if you tried hard enough you could probably find replacement cathode/anode plates, although I doubt it's worth the hassle since the battery is a cheap commodity, as is the battery in an iPhone. When the battery in a car fails and won't hold a charge, you rip it out and put in a new one. No one is asking to repair the iPhone battery - just give us a way to access it so we can replace it.
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Don't forget the core charge for parts like the battery. I am waiting for Apple to jump on that bandwagon.
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Actually you are just as "prohibited" from repairing a car battery today as you are an iPhone. After all, you cannot get parts for a car battery, can you? You buy a sealed car battery and are not supposed to open it.
Woah, you absolutely can work on or repair a car battery, here is a tutorial [wikihow.com].
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Re: Car battery good example (Score:2)
What are you talking about? Replacing a car battery is a very simple procedure with a very low chance of damaging the car. Replacing the battery on an iPhone is a complex process that starts with "heat up your phone with a heat gun but not for too long or you'll melt it" and then has 30 or so more steps filled with warnings about the delicate components you can damage. This is a con designed to get people to buy new phones and/or expensive insurance policies. Android manufacturers, also being dicks, have
Re: Seems partly true (Score:2)
I used to work on old Kodak strobe flash copiers, the cap that powered the scan flash was the size of a fire extinguisher , first words in the service manual..
"Failure to follow the discharge procedure will result in death"..
We all managed to survive the training course, but it was sobering all the same...
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"Unlike a AA battery which is well cased, the batteries that come in sealed phones (not just Apple) are not really parts that non-trained personnel are really supposed to be handling, and are kind of dangerous."
So are thousands of things people handle just fine. If that is dangerous just imagine something as simple as rewiring a light switch or electrical outlet in your home! Something most people do on a regular basis and anyone can do after watching a youtube video. People don't need a babysitter telling
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Sure they have a monopoly on repairs now but people who break the devices while attempting to repair it have to buy new devices
Alternatively, they sue Apple. "You didn't warn me to not soak the battery in bleach!!!"
Apple wants both the cash from the monopoly on repairs and avoid the lawsuits from idiots hurting themselves.
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If that were an issue the car, motorcycle, and boat manufacturers are getting sued by people who injure themselves disassembling the batteries... or even working on the cars. Oh wait, no, actually that isn't a thing at all.
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If that were an issue the car, motorcycle, and boat manufacturers are getting sued by people who injure themselves disassembling the batteries... or even working on the cars. Oh wait, no, actually that isn't a thing at all.
Actually, they do get sued by idiots who hurt themselves during repairs. The manufacturers usually win such lawsuits, but it costs more to do so than an immediate response of "it's illegal to service your device".
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"Actually, they do get sued by idiots who hurt themselves during repairs. The manufacturers usually win such lawsuits, but it costs more to do so than an immediate response of "it's illegal to service your device"."
Okay, if you are going by that low of a standard, technically 'it's illegal to service your device' wouldn't prevent someone from suing either. In either case they can win such frivolous lawsuits and commonly can make the party who sued them pay the cost of defense as well.
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Okay, if you are going by that low of a standard, technically 'it's illegal to service your device' wouldn't prevent someone from suing either.
Again, it's about how much it costs to respond. 'It's illegal to service your device' is cheaper. Not free, not lawsuit-proof. Cheap er
In either case they can win such frivolous lawsuits and commonly can make the party who sued them pay the cost of defense as well.
This is a terrible idea, and guarantees that no individual would be able to sue any large corporation ever again, even if there was a legitimate dispute.
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"This is a terrible idea, and guarantees that no individual would be able to sue any large corporation ever again, even if there was a legitimate dispute."
It isn't an 'idea', if a judge determines you've brought a frivolous lawsuit they can and often do order this on a case-by-case basis. I don't see how something which impacts frivolous suits would impact legitimate ones other than maybe leading to a bit more due diligence. In many countries including the UK loser pays by default and also in Texas since 20
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Strike that, the TX law is a bit different. The defendant can request an early dismissal for a frivolous suit, if they win it the plaintiff must pay the fees otherwise they have the pay the portion of the plaintiffs fees used to fight the motion to dismiss.
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I'm inclined to let them
Re: Seems partly true (Score:2)
I've also seen professional electricians do some incredibly shoddy work, and I'm an amateur. The difference is that when I work on my own house - or on the house of a friend or relative - I'm not concerned about cost or time overruns. If I make a mistake that's going to cost me an extra $50 to fix, I'll go ahead and spend that $50, because my biggest concern is my safety and the safety of people I care about. Whereas the "pro" has a pretty big incentive to just hide the mistake and save $50.
I agree with
Re:Seems partly true (Score:5, Insightful)
But it still doesn't support the position that trained third party repair places should not be able to obtain parts
And this is the most important thing to remember when it comes to any right to repair bill. Apple et al knows for a fact that 90% of iPhone owners aren't going to attempt a repair. What the tech industry doesn't want is the ability for third parties to spring up and compete with their "service plans" they would love to sell you.
Butterfly keyboard break? Did you get the AppleCare program? Yes? We'll send you a replacement when we get around to it, in the meantime bring us the one you currently own to your nearest Apple store. No? Well then you should have bought the fucking AppleCare program, looks lke someone s gong to have to deal wth a mssng "eye" key.
Now compare that with John who sets up shop, can order 100 replacement keyboards from Apple, and then provide a fix today for your f'ed up keyboard for the cost of $50. That's no AppleCare money, no hocking crap at you/shaming you for having an iPhone5 when you are at the Apple store, no you are on their timeline. Right to repair would literally destroy a business model a lot of these companies have put together to milk as much as possible out of their customers.
The whole crew in Silicon Valley understand that right to repair isn't a danger to customers hurting themselves because most customers don't give a flying fuck about what's inside nor what to even attempt a repair (hence why oil change places are as popular as they are). What they do understand is that it could fuck massive sources of income up for them irrevocably.
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most customers don't give a flying fuck about what's inside nor what to even attempt a repair (hence why oil change places are as popular as they are).
Agreed. The biggest reason I have for going to an oil change place is while I am more than capable of changing oil, I don't want to have to deal with disposing of the used filter and oil properly.
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Not quite.
Yes, Apple wants the money from its monopoly on repairs and service plans.
Apple also doesn't want the expense of all the idiots who sue after harming themselves or bricking their devices. And a law that says "Too bad. You're on your own 'cause you opened it" is ripe for abuse by a company that is actually negligent.
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Unlike a AA battery which is well cased, the batteries that come in sealed phones (not just Apple) are not really parts that non-trained personnel are really supposed to be handling, and are kind of dangerous.
There is plenty of shit way more hazardous for sale at Wal-Mart and your local auto parts store.
So that is partly a valid point at least...
Not even close.
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This reminds me of why there are no self-serve gasoline pumps in New Jersey. They have a law on the books (https://www.nj.gov/labor/lsse/laws/Retail_Gasoline_Act_and_Regs.html) that states it's for safety reasons, but let's face facts, it's because the gas stations want to charge you more. After all, it is not as if New Jersey doesn't have it's fair share of gas station fires.
"Very little to Lose" ignores modern society (Score:2, Informative)
Quite a few would only ruin it, and buy a new one anyway - so no loss for Apple there.
But the ones sho did set fire to the battery might well claim Apple was at fault, especially if Apple sold them a spare battery... understand?
Anyone can sue for anything even if they are in the wrong, and more and more people do sue for things that are their own fault. So Apple shipping a lot of replacement batteries to people with no training is not "nothing to lose" it's an invitation for a horde of lawsuits and people
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Anyone can sue for anything
That there is your problem in the US. The solution is not to pave everything with rubber tiles, put "objects may be closer than they appear" on everything, or glue everything shut because people might hurt themselves trying to fix it. One notice suffices in this case: "Warranty void if seal is broken". You can repair the phone yourself, but you're on your own, and you are responsible for whatever happens.
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But the ones sho did set fire to the battery might well claim Apple was at fault, especially if Apple sold them a spare battery... understand?
And you're seriously trying to make the argument that Apple is doing this to protect the public and not to enforce their monopoly on repairing their own hardware and charging whatever they'd like to do it?