Your smartphone, your smartwatch, your… ventilator? What could all of these things possibly have in common? That’s right!- they’re expensive. Worse than that, none of these devices can be easily repaired, if at all. Why is this the case, and is there anything we can do about it?

Sources:

Apple Centric Issues:

• iFixit, 7 April 2017, ‘Sorry Folks, iPhone 7 Home Buttons Aren’t User Replaceable’
• ExtremeTech, 27 September 2019, ‘Apple Will Now Warn If Your Screen Is Not ‘Genuine’ After Repair’
• ExtremeTech, 25 May 2018, ‘https://www.extremetech.com/mobile/270055-documents-reveal-apple-was-aware-of-iphone-6-bendgate-issues-before-launch’
• Louis Rossman/Rossman Group on Apple Authorized Service Centers

“Warranty Void If Removed” is illegal:

• DigitalTrends, 11 April 2018, ‘Those ‘warranty void if removed’ stickers are illegal, says the FTC’
• Vice, 10 April 2018, ‘FTC Says ‘Warranty Void If Removed’ Stickers Are Bullshit, Warns Manufacturers They’re Breaking the Law’

Medical Device Repair:

• CBS News, 8 July 2020, ‘Manufacturers hinder repairs of crucial COVID hospital equipment, critics warn’
• The American Prospect, 12 May 2020, ‘Coronavirus Reveals Consequences of Restricted Repair’
• Plastics Technology, 5 May 2020, ‘Coronavirus Emergency: Ventilator Valves 3D Printed at Hospital’
• Tech Times, 17 March 2020, ‘Maker of $11,000 Ventilator Valves Threatens to Sue Volunteers Using $1 3D-Printed Replicas That Just Saved 10 Coronavirus Patients!‘
• Medical Device Network, 18 March 2020, ‘Covid-19: start-up that saved lives with 3D-printed valve may face legal action’
• iFixit, Medical Device Repair Section

On Right to Repair:

• The New York Times, 23 October 2020, ‘Fix, or Toss? The ‘Right to Repair’ Movement Gains Ground‘
• European Commission website, page for the EU Circular Economy Action Plan

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