Image credit – iFixit
A couple of weeks ago, US President Joe Biden issued an executive order for the right to repair. This essentially sees the US government backing consumers and their right to choose where they want to repair their devices, even if it isn’t necessarily from the manufacturer themselves while still having access to parts and manuals needed to perform said repair.
Now it looks like the FTC will be stepping in as well because the government body has also announced that they will be fighting unlawful right to repair restrictions. What this means is that they will be cracking down on potentially illegal activity that would otherwise prevent a consumer from repairing their own devices or sending it to a third-party repair shop.
According to the FTC’s Chair Lina Khan, “While efforts by dominant firms to restrict repair markets are not new, changes in technology and more prevalent use of software has created fresh opportunities for companies to limit independent repair. These types of restrictions can significantly raise costs for consumers, stifle innovation, close off business opportunities for independent repair shops, create unnecessary electronic waste, delay timely repairs, and undermine resiliency.”
It might be a while before we start seeing these efforts make a real change, but it is good news for those who are sick and tired of having to pay exorbitant repair bills to the official manufacturer.