
Europe Wants a ‘Right to Repair’ Smartphones and Gadgets - pseudolus
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/world/europe/eu-right-to-repair-smartphones.html
======
kabdib
I'd like to have standard rechargeable batteries in products. Not necessarily
"hot" swappable (though that would be nice for devices like cellphones). But
at least available in standard forms, and replaceable by someone with a
screwdriver in a few minutes.

I'm sick of "renting" batteries that are permanently installed in devices that
would otherwise work for tens of years, but their batteries wear out after
only a few years. I'm sick of paying inflated prices for batteries that have
bizarre configurations and that go out of production.

I understand there are significant engineering challenges for some things
(e.g., earbuds that are basically some electronics wrapped around a lithium
cell). But there's no reason a set of headphones couldn't have a replaceable
cell (I'm looking at you, Bose). I'm happy to have slightly heavier headphones
and slightly thicker laptops and tablets if it increases the device lifetime
and reduces e-waste.

Not gonna happen without a mandate, that's for sure. Gotta keep customers on
the upgrade treadmill.

~~~
amelius
> Not necessarily "hot" swappable

"Hot swappable" usually means you can swap it while the machine is turned on.
At least, that's how people use the term when talking about harddrives.

~~~
kabdib
Yeah, I mis-spoke.

Swappable is better.

~~~
andai
My laptop has that. There's a second internal battery, and you can swap the
external one while it's on.

------
pjc50
A primary source referenced: [https://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-
economy/pdf/new_ci...](https://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-
economy/pdf/new_circular_economy_action_plan.pdf)

It looks like a "right to repair" for appliances has already been adopted.
[https://ec.europa.eu/energy/topics/energy-
efficiency/energy-...](https://ec.europa.eu/energy/topics/energy-
efficiency/energy-label-and-ecodesign/regulation-laying-down-ecodesign-
requirements-1-october-2019_en?redir=1)

Note e.g. the requirements for monitors:
[https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/documents/c-201...](https://ec.europa.eu/energy/sites/ener/files/documents/c-2019-2122_1_en_annexe_acte_autonome_part1_v6.pdf)

This is in many ways the opposite of the cookie law in that it specifies
pretty precisely what outcome has to be achieved.

------
diablo1
I bought a few dumbphones from Amazon because I am scared that smartphones
will be so pervasive and that dumbphones will be slowly phased out and you
will be unable to buy them anymore. Smartphones are difficult to repair
because the circuitry is hermetically sealed and you need specialist tools to
open them up and tinker. Dumbphones, not so much. The parts are accessible and
can be swapped out with working parts easily.

~~~
AnthonyMouse
Might be better off to buy phones specifically designed for that, e.g.
PinePhone or Librem 5.

~~~
yakovdk
Thanks for posting this -- I hadn't heard of the Librem 5, and it's
fascinating.

------
rv-de
Heads up for OnePlus coming ...

Few weeks ago I decided to switch to Lineage OS. For that I bought a used
OnePlus 3T on EBay. Now the exceptional fact about OnePlus is that they
provide official repair service even for relatively old phones. Most recent
model is OP 7T.

[https://www.oneplus.com/de/support/repair-
pricing/details?co...](https://www.oneplus.com/de/support/repair-
pricing/details?code=23)

Replacement of the battery cost in total 40 Euro. That's shipping back and
forth, the battery and the replacement. Very much impressed me how fast that
procedure took. altogether only 4 days. How awesome is that?

Works fantastic.

------
cs702
When you _buy_ a physical object, such as a home, a car, a shirt, or a
smartphone, shouldn't you be be able to repair it, modify it however you want,
use it for different purposes, loan it to friends, sell it to others, and so
on -- you know, all the rights and benefits associated with the concept of
_private ownership_? And when you _buy_ a software object, shouldn't you have
the same rights and benefits?

~~~
bluGill
I own my home, but I'm not allowed to pour oil on the ground even though it
would only destroy my own grass. I own my car, but I'm not allowed to remove
the headlights and drive at night.

Exactly where we place the limits is up for debate, but I think I conclusively
proved to everybody reading this that there need to be limits the only
question is where.

~~~
Buttons840
It would be more accurately stated:

I am allowed to remove my headlights, but I'm not allowed to drive on the
roads if I have removed my headlights. The restriction is on roads.

~~~
notriddle
Okay, how about this one?

I own my home, but I'm not allowed to replace the GFCI outlets in my bathroom
with non-GFCI outlets.

~~~
rleigh
This misses the fundamental point being discussed.

Having the right to modify and repair does not mean a carte blanche to ignore
and circumvent building and electrical regulations. You do have the right to
remove, replace or add additional outlets providing that the regulations are
complied with, and you can purchase outlets from any vendor which sells
products compliant with the regulations.

Availability of first-party and third-party parts would greatly open up the
market for electronic goods of all kinds. So long as they comply with the
necessary regulations and perform equivalently to the original parts, it would
be a vast improvement upon the current state of affairs.

------
globile
It is not only manufacturers. Cellphone Network Operators are part of the
problem.

Our B2B customers are in many cases Network operators.

Occasionally they request tens of thousands of unlock/repair requests for
phones from competing networks for which they have won an enterprise tender.

Love/Hate relationship.

------
oytis
The success of the whole story is going to depend on whether they will be able
to push it on everyone else. Otherwise we're going to have normal phones for
everyone except EU, and bulky, outdated, but repairable "europhones" in
Europe. Probably good for local producers though.

~~~
VBprogrammer
I don't think the right to repair is about the design being specifically
repairable (i.e. uses exclusively sockets and through-hole components), rather
it's about avoiding things which are deliberately constructed to prevent
repairing them and legal barriers to reverse engineering items in order to
repair them.

Examples are components which, while identical to the component requiring
replacement, will refuse to work until coded to match the intended device with
some proprietary cable (which is really a normal cable with a couple of wires
reversed or some other dick move).

~~~
oytis
The "dick moves" can probably be tracked and forbidden, but IMO it's not the
main reason why modern gadgets are hard to repair. Rather if you optimize for
size, price, power consumption, performance, security, IP protection,
development time etc., and just don't prioritize repairability, it naturally
grows up this way.

~~~
hermitdev
Regarding cables: it would be nice if it was mandated to use an
internationally recognized spec from certain designated bodies, such as IEEE.

If someone such as Apple wants to use Lightning because they find existing
specs to be deficient, they should get the spec standardized before theyre
allowed to implement a device using it. Specifications should ideally be
unencombered by patents or for a fair and reasonable license.

Additionally implementers of a spec should be required to have their
implementations verified that they adhere to the spec by an independent lab,
such as UL (Underwriters Lab), and be fined into nonexistence if they forge
the lab's marks.

This should also cut down on the snake oil cables, such as $90 gold plated
HDMI cables.

------
kalium_xyz
This is bound to result in some interesting new paradigms to get around it

~~~
qayxc
As far as I can tell,there is indeed a long-term goal behind this. The idea to
shift the economy towards sustainable consumption and a proper circular
economy that ideally reduces waste close to zero.

Here's the official website of the initiative:
[https://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-
economy/index_en.h...](https://ec.europa.eu/environment/circular-
economy/index_en.htm)

------
listsfrin
The article says this is needed in order to reduce greenhouse emissions. I
don't feel that's true. In my country in Europe nothing is done to reduce
pollution from the cars and plastic usage. Year after year more products are
built with plastic instead of glass or metal.

~~~
ClumsyPilot
You seem uninformed about multiple EU initiatives, we've been deploying
reneables, cleaning up the grid, etc. Our car emissions standards are much
stricter than US/China/Russia. Unlike in the US, exporting plastic to the
third world is actually illegal. And plastic is a distinct and separate
problem to CO2.

Here is an example:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gacGuWjqKco&t=579s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gacGuWjqKco&t=579s)

You could still argue they are not doing enough, but at least some credit is
due.

~~~
listsfrin
I'm uninformed about the place were I live? I don't know what I smell every
day, going to and back to work? You have quite some nerve ;)

Let me tell you some stories about illegal stuff.

A few days ago you could smell chemicals in the air every morning. In the
middle of the city. There was a big scandal and they said UK exported their
shit here. European style. Nothing really came off of it.

Money talks.

~~~
ClumsyPilot
I do not mean to offend, but if you could be more specific about what is it
that you deem wrong, we could have a more fruitful conversation.

------
lowdose
Being European I'm under the opinion Europe is filled with delusion. We have
no technology to show for and the insanity Europe is trying to force on
innovators is getting out of control.

No Silicon Valley would have meant no internet, no computers and no wearable
magic toys. If Apple is forced to adjust the iPhone they should just flip the
middle finger and refuse to sell in Europe and these shenanigans will end.

~~~
frank2
Many believe that one of the most important innovations of the last 10 years
is the Rust programming language and in particular its borrow checker, which
is the result of a long investigation by programming-languages designers into
"linear" or "use-once" variables. The main inspiration for this long
investigation was probably a paper published in 1987 by a French logic
professor:

[https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-
linear/#Int](https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/logic-linear/#Int)

(I read many thousands of papers on programming-language design in the 10
years before 1987 and don't recall anyone investigating "use-once" variables
or related ideas whereas soon after 1987 many designers were investigating
that part of the "design space" and citing the French logic professor.)

Also it was Scandinavian professors who invented object-oriented programming
(via the language Simula in the late 1960s). So Europe remains more innovative
than most of the world (and remains wealthier than most of the world as a
result).

------
zepto
Do they have any data at all to support this being a net benefit or is it only
ideological?

~~~
76543210
Less new equipment?

But really people bought Apple products and want the company to act
differently. Don't buy from bad companies and it doesn't affect you.

~~~
simion314
>Don't buy from bad companies and it doesn't affect you.

Don't eat at bad restaurant and you won't get poisoned! You do not need
warranty for your phone, don't buy from bad companies. We do not need safety
checks for foods and medicine just don't buy from bad companies.

The issue is that companies put billions into PR, so even if Apple is a bad
company it has a good image and it's products are a status symbol, the
consumers can't compete with those billions.

~~~
zepto
Yes they can - nobody is forcing anyone to buy an iPhone.

~~~
simion314
The consumer can compete with the billions or PR?

I think you did not understand the point and responded from reflex. Let me
simplify it down;

Consumers try to explain that throwing away good devices because the battery
is old is bad for the world is not effective enough because it is fighting
billions spent in PR that shows you that you need the new device because is
slimmer,smarter,cooler and the big companies is doing the best to recycle this
products(we send them in China where the smartest of our employees(that are
definitely not children) are recycling every atom. So continue buying new
things, you don't want your friends thinking you are poor and have the old
models don't you?

Is it clear now? You are not forced to buy anything, unless you are forced by
a job or social group to use certain apps but you would probably argue that
you are not forced and you can quit your job and find other friends.

~~~
76543210
I haven't considered that the lower class needs to buy Apple products as a
status symbol.

Is this really a problem?

As an educated 10%er, seeing Apple products is an immediate red flag that the
person falls for marketing.

~~~
simion314
I know of children demanding iPhones because with an Android is impossible to
iMessage(or video chat) with their friends.

I also know cases where a child from a modest family spent the money he earned
on Fortnite cash. There is a group pressure to own certain things otherwise
you are excluded.

Anyway my main point is about some regular citizens fighting a giant
PR(propaganda) campaign is not easy. I follow some of Louis Rossman videos
where he shows how politicians debate the right to repair and it is so clear
how Apple and big companies PR succeeded in having those politicians putting
more importance on copyright over repair schematics(because trade secrete).
preventing repairing consoles(because pirates) and preventing replacing
bateries(because fires and explosions). How much money and effort is needed to
make a contra PR move to show people that batteries don't just explode if the
repair person does not a paper that he is Apple genius or that making repair
components accessible and repiar schematics accessible will not make video
games more easy to pirate. Then there is also the idea that if you have access
to rep[air your tractor then you can do dangerous stuff , thing that is
ridiculous considering you can repair your car and then use it on a public
road (not like tractors that are mostly used on private property)

------
olivermarks
I think the world wants 'right to repair', not just Europe.

~~~
hermitdev
Definitely. I replaced the camera on my last phone, because the lens cracked.
Unfortunately, about a week after that repair, my phone fell out of my pocket
while getting out of the car, and that repair was beyond my capability... I
try and buy phones with a removable/swappable battery, bit those are becoming
increasingly rare. I wont buy a phone without a microsd slot, though.

------
firbrook
I hope this doesn't result in a GDPR-like effect, but for phones instead of
websites: "We're sorry, but iPhones aren't available in your region" followed
by a redirect to google.com

~~~
rndgermandude
I have seen very few sites actually doing this. The only one I remember is
Chicago Tribune, and I cannot remember any site where I didn't just shrug and
move on.

Also, Apple in particular cannot really afford to leave the EU. About 23% of
their profits were generated in the EU in 2019. Other big names are in
essentially the same boat.

~~~
rrmoelker
I come across one site every two weeks or so. Luckily on the Reddit forums
people usually copy or quote the article.

It's a bit of a nuisance. But overall, I feel this GDPR is doing more good
than harm.

------
bryanrasmussen
it might be difficult to buy all the new ones you need for the next couple
years.

------
amelius
How is the "right to repair" different from "I want access to the design
documents, source code and the entire supply chain for spare parts"? Where do
we draw the line?

~~~
kevingadd
Well, for starters we can at least draw the line so you're able, as a rule, to
replace your own battery without having to find the closest Apple store
(possibly hours away in some countries) and hand the device over and wait who
knows how long for service...

And at that point, why shouldn't you be able to swap in a new screen if it
breaks? Maybe you're not clever enough to do it yourself, but I'm sure some
local small business owner can hire and train people to be experts in screen
and battery replacement. Then a repair for your device is 5 minutes away
instead of an hour+ and demand is spread across providers (who can compete on
price and quality).

------
TomMarius
What if I want to buy a device that is impossible to repair due to e.g. being
inside metal/ceramics/glass?

~~~
simion314
What if I want to buy a car that has no lights,breaks and pollutes 100x more
then the norms?

There are many hardened phones that are repairable.

Edit: also a main issue with repairability is DRM and evil companies trying to
use the copyright law so you won't publish repair manuals and schematics. Your
ceramic phone won't suffer if someone shares a manual about it's internals .

~~~
TomMarius
I was not talking about hardened phones, quite the opposite, a pure design
item, so small and precise that any breakage of the shell could destroy it -
that's the current direction of the market, which I like very much. Who
exactly will I hurt with my phone, and when exactly is it going to gain around
1 metric ton and be hurtling down a highway? Since when is it fashionable to
justify regulation with completely unrelated health/safety issues?

~~~
rat9988
As a society we have to make choices. We prefer having repairable items over
beautiful unrepairable ones, as the latter has been abused as an excuse to
deny repairability even when possible.

~~~
TomMarius
Do we? I am not really sure we do. I think it's very hard to talk about what
"the society" wants, and I know that it differs very much around 150 km to the
north from me (where the border is) and that it is also roughly the opposite
around 300 km to the south from me (where another border is).

~~~
simongray
> I think it's very hard to talk about what "the society" wants

People vote for representatives, those representatives enact legislation, and
the free press reports on it, causing a feedback effect. Over time we have a
picture of what society wants. It's really not that hard.

Obviously, there are many different interconnected societies in the world and
not all of them have representative democracy or a free press. Maybe that was
your objection?

~~~
TomMarius
During the last EU parliament elections, 28.4% people voted (in my country of
10 million). These 28.4% have chosen 21 representatives into a parliament of
736, which means 2.85% of all seats.

I think it's clear why this tells us nothing about what the society here
wants. It might be said that the EU was the voice of the nations before they
removed the unilateral agreement requirement, but not today.

Nobody here (parties, the representatives) is even talking about the right to
repair, how can you be so sure the society here wants it?

~~~
simongray
> I think it's clear why this tells us nothing about what the society here
> wants.

On the contrary, it very clearly tells us that your society is apathetic about
the EU and does not care about decisions made in the European parliament.

In my own country, 2/3 voted in the latest EU parliament elections. The
debates here were dominated by environmental policy, so I'm really not
surprised that legislation like this is now being considered in the EU
parliament.

~~~
TomMarius
> On the contrary, it very clearly tells us that your society is apathetic
> about the EU and does not care about decisions made in the European
> parliament.

Exactly, that is the only thing that is clear. And the reason is that we have
much greater political problems to deal with so the EU is not that relevant to
us, especially not issues like right to repair (which is not an issue to
anyone I know and google gives me mostly no online discussions in our
language). It still does not give anyone the right to shovel us "what the
society wants". Our society didn't want the Lisboa agreement, but our
politicians signed it anyways - so what exactly does our society want and what
exactly should the EU be saying about it?

Even if 100% of people voted, still the 2.85% of voice don't seem like much
space to express what _our society wants_ , you know? And why there should
only be space for one central opinion? That doesn't seem that diverse.

~~~
simongray
> Our society didn't want the Lisboa agreement, but our politicians signed it
> anyways - so what exactly does our society want and what exactly should the
> EU be saying about it?

Then vote for a different set of politicians and leave the EU. The UK paved
the way. I believe in you!

> Even if 100% of people voted, still the 2.85% of voice don't seem like much
> space to express what our society wants, you know? And why there should only
> be space for one central opinion? That doesn't seem that diverse.

Humans aren't borgs, but that doesn't mean we can't generalise about the
general tendencies of society. Do you want me to admit that not everyone in a
society has the same opinion? Seems a bit pointless, but sure, I'll admit
that.

~~~
TomMarius
> Then vote for a different set of politicians and leave the EU. The UK paved
> the way. I believe in you!

That's nice of you. I am not a leaver, I believe in European cooperation,
maybe even federalization - but I don't believe in centralization.

------
Funes-
Being guaranteed the right to repair from every manufacturer is great and,
more importantly, much needed. Nonetheless, most people abide by the culture
fabricated by those very corporations, which is defined by an annual release
cycle of devices which are minimally upgraded deliberately, their selling
point usually being something visibly different from the previous year's
smartphones--currently, being foldable or having a gazillion lenses on its
back. If the users keep falling for those kinds of tricks and spending a whole
month of their salary to buy a phone every year, the status quo isn't going to
change. Of course, an easier way to recycle our phones wouldn't hurt, either.
Even forcing companies to recycle first, manufacturing new components from
scratch only if absolutely necessary, would be a beneficial measure, I reckon.

~~~
simion314
Not everybody is changing the phone or computers as often. Say if someone
gifts me an old iPhone and the battery is getting old I do not have any Apple
store around to replace it, I will be forced to trash a working phone because
sending it to the country capital for an approved person to install an
approved battery is probably more expensive then buying a new phone.

~~~
lttlrck
It wouldn’t make much sense to trash it when the alternative is a battery
installed by unapproved person. Or donate it yourself.

------
lnsru
That will end in another monstrosity like WEEE making entry for hardware
startups harder and harder:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Electrical_and_Electro...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Electrical_and_Electronic_Equipment_Directive)
Only big players with dedicated departments will comply easily.

And about right to repair I have bad experience: broken cable is enough for
lots of buyers to throw away electronic appliances. Let’s be honest: majority
of users will cause more harm than do good when repairing something. Another
thing is planned obsolescence when electronics die right after warranty period
ends. Buddy had this with high end washing machine and I had this with display
recently.

~~~
liopleurodon
I'd like to be able to swap the battery on my smartphone, like I used to be
able to do.

Same with my laptop

~~~
coldpie
Yes but if you could do that, then you might also be able to fit a headphone
jack in there. What a horrible future that would be.

------
Shivetya
Depending on how this is handled it could backfire and we end up with more
pollution as people discard used parts. For some items, like adding easily
swap of batteries may open the devices to easier contamination. However if
right to repair is contained to authorized repair centers; which is currently
how warranties are preserved in many countries; then it might still pass
provided someone with the right tools can do it safely.

As for the software side this may be a tough one as many times a change in
chipset can make features available in newer models that are not in older
models and the real question is, how far back must they provided like software
upgrades that new models have? iOS goes back quite a ways, is that not enough
now? That my prior iMac no longer had support from Nvidia (2013 model) is
whose fault? Apple's or Nvidias?

What people need to understand is that replacement parts may involve complete
assemblies because there is no feasible means to replace some of the pieces in
common tablets and phones. So take a dryer, you might need to replace an
entire motor but depending on how the regulation is written that may not be
sufficient.

tl;dr it all sounds well and good until those who have no understanding of
repair start writing regulations that could lead to less reliable items, more
electronics and batteries in the trash, and even most costly items.

~~~
ClumsyPilot
There is a world of difference between technical obstacles and deliberate
ones. Apple structures their contracts so that the manufacturer is not allowed
to sell components to any third parties, making repair impossible. You could
be forced to throw out a five grand laptop because you are not allowed to buy
a $5 chip, that can be easily replaced.

Watch this testimony.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLIW7mQ8CI4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLIW7mQ8CI4)

~~~
jaybeeayyy
I was looking for a video of mah bout Louis! He's so informative and I love
watching his streams...I had no idea what right to repair was until I saw him
talk about it.

It's insane how much power we let companies like apple have over products we
purchase from them.

