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British right to repair law excludes smartphones and computers

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Re: British right to repair law excludes smartphones and computers

#301

Post by salamandersauce »

danpalmer wrote: post #19
xroche wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Apple solve this by making spares super expensive and only available from partners. This is even more hilarious: they sell you a "spare part" which is the logic board, for nearly the price of the laptop. But they (1) do provide spare parts and (2) sell them at a ""reasonable price""

In my experience with Apple parts they are roughly in line with my expectations based on a) the price of the computer, and b) not being designed for any part to be replaced independently. These aren't great factors of course, but I'm not sure the problem is expensive parts. I've usually found logic boards to be ~1/3-1/2 of the price of the machine, which considering they have the RAM/SSD soldered on, feels like ~1/3-…

Yeah, but if the only problem with your motherboard is a $3 IC that got fried and everything else is fine does it make sense to have to buy an entire new motherboard?

Re: British right to repair law excludes smartphones and computers

#302

Post by mmis1000 »

bosswipe wrote: post #187
thebean11 wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't all modern phones encrypt user data on disk anyway?

The wipe on unlock thing is not about preventing others from getting your data, it's about preventing you from getting app data.

I though either way it true? There are some apps designed not to being backup without a trace. For example: some 2FA apps are designed to stay exactly on one machine for security reasons (They are meant to replace traditional 2fa device). Being backup easily compromises the requirements.

Re: British right to repair law excludes smartphones and computers

#303

Post by mnouquet »

justshowpost wrote: post #296
mnouquet wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is actually a pretty good system for the CCP "politburo".

Looks like there is a need of explanation for that term. Politburo (= "Political Bureau") of Central Committee of Communist Party of Soviet Russia . Also, a Politburo member becomes The Chairman . In a nutshell, ringleaders of ringleaders of Bolsheviks. *MUCH* more equal than the others, naturally.

And naturally, it's blasphemous on HN to speak about it.

Re: British right to repair law excludes smartphones and computers

#304

Post by mr_toad »

flukus wrote: post #293
MrStonedOne wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> User-replaceable battery means that entire product categories like wireless earbuds e.g. Airpods cannot exist. Acceptable, why turn an entire device into ewaste for a single component dying, especially one with a known limited service life, like a battery. 10 year warranties minimum on all electronics. Regardless of size and fragility. Any electronic device that can't last 10 years in service is unnecessarily contr…

How long do the batteries in those things last? If it makes it to 2 years then they're doing much better than any of my wired ear buds where the wire's or contacts usually break and are probably responsible for less waste.

Mine are about four years old, I got them not long after they came out. I’ve upgraded my iPhone but I’m still using the AirPods. Battery capacity is probably about 60% of new.

They’re easily the longest lasting in ear headphones I’ve used.

Re: British right to repair law excludes smartphones and computers

#305

Post by Cub3 »

alkonaut wrote: post #240
ShaneMcGowan wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trying to find a good non smart tv is impossible now, I want dumb tv and dumb fridge

I don’t want to pay a premium for dumb TV though. Just like a laptop without crapware is more expensive because the crapware actually subsidizes it, a dumb TV can be more expensive. But if you pick a good (quick, without annoying UI, allows USB upgrade and offline configuration and so on) smart TV and just don’t connect it, I think that’s probably a better idea than getting a commercial monitor for example.

You know what I would pay for is flashable firmware for my TV that, for example, removes the 'google' / 'smart' parts from it.

Currently I just have my tv at stock settings with no network connection but it keeps annoyingly asking for a network connection.

What would be my dream is the apple TV + xbox utalising hdmi-cec to auto turn on and auto switch to the correct source then turn off when done so I didn't even need the tv remote

Re: British right to repair law excludes smartphones and computers

#306

Post by Cub3 »

alkonaut wrote: post #257
kevindong wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought a mid-range Vizio about two years ago. Vizio has progressively made its OS more and more laggy every few months and filled it to the brim with unblockable ads. Software updates would regularly break things for a few days/weeks at a time until the changes get rolled back. When Apple came out with their new Apple TV, I bought one, connected that to my TV, and disconnected my TV from the internet. Now life is g…

The TV shows ads ? In menus? Or while watching TV channels? Or at startup? Or, when? I’d pull the internet cable in a heartbeat if I saw an ad on it, and I’m on my second smart TV for the last 10 years (although my current one is 7 years old). I mean I don’t actually use any of the “smart” stuff. No Apps or anything. Not sure why anyone would want to? I watch my TV channels on the built in receiver (90% or more of wh…

Last update for Android TV did the same to me (before I did the same thing as OP, appletv + factory), kept showing ads for shows on apps I didn't have installed

Re: British right to repair law excludes smartphones and computers

#308

Post by judge2020 »

bluescrn wrote: post #255
samatman wrote: post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

User-replaceable has nothing whatsoever to do with right to repair. Zero, zip, nada. A right to repair law might mandate that any device with a battery also have the battery sold, by the manufacturer, for a reasonable period of time. That gives you a practical right to repair the device by replacing the battery, and it's well-defined. "User replaceable" is not well defined. Does it mean you need to be able to do this…

But there's not much point having the right to repair if products are designed to be non-repairable and spare parts are unavailable. A battery is a consumable and should be user-replaceable. It might be a bit fiddly, with tiny screws and fragile connectors, but shouldn't require heat guns and chemicals to remove adhesives... (And if we're about to replace billions of vehicles with EVs, perhaps consuming the entire pl…

An extreme example of this would be the CPU - should it be repairable as well? What if the SRAM cache needs to be replaced? Should they be forced to backtrack and make that a slotted component in the next generation of motherboards, costing performance for user repairability? Or is the list of components arbitrarily determined by some administration-appointed regulatory agency?

Re: British right to repair law excludes smartphones and computers

#309

Post by drexlspivey »

alkonaut wrote: post #240
ShaneMcGowan wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Trying to find a good non smart tv is impossible now, I want dumb tv and dumb fridge

I don’t want to pay a premium for dumb TV though. Just like a laptop without crapware is more expensive because the crapware actually subsidizes it, a dumb TV can be more expensive. But if you pick a good (quick, without annoying UI, allows USB upgrade and offline configuration and so on) smart TV and just don’t connect it, I think that’s probably a better idea than getting a commercial monitor for example.

You don’t have to connect it anywhere, soon it will connect to your neighbor’s alexa automatically

Re: British right to repair law excludes smartphones and computers

#310

Post by judge2020 »

SkeuomorphicBee wrote: post #259
celestialcheese wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, at least, unlocking devices is legal as of 2015(?) through DMCA exemptions, which has been huge for recyclers and refurbishers. Still couldn't get game console unlocking through, but at least phones / tablets / other devices that are locked can be unlocked and resold. https://resource-recycling.com/e-scrap/2018/11/01/digital-de...

The DMCA exception only means that the manufacturer can't sue you for unlocking a device they meant to be unlockable. So, of you find a way to do it, it is not a crime to hack a device you own. Right to repair laws are (would be) a whole different beast, it would mean the manufacturer would have to sell the devices unlocked or provide the unlock method themselves. In other words, DMCA exception removes a legal hurdle…

Whoa there, that's stretching 'right to repair' particularly because everyone has a different opinion about what it should affect and how far it should extend. For example, Louis Rossmann's right to repair direct ballot initiative only focuses on repairing the hardware since that has a much higher chance of actually passing with support from both parties in congress, and doesn't actually jeopardize the fabric of entire markets like the game console market.
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