President Biden to order the FTC to make rules regarding Right to Repair

[NotTheFirstDaniel]

Summary

President Biden will, in the coming days, order the FTC to create new rules that focus on Right to Repair. This comes after large amounts of complaints from farmers about how John Deere is anti-repair.

 

While this order will most likely be directed towards farmers, it could have a ripple effect in other industries, such as the smartphone industry, where companies like Samsung, and especially Apple, use their power to stop 3rd party repair, in some cases leading to degraded software experiences as punishment for daring to not repair your device through a 1st party service.

 

The White House believes that this will create more economic competition and drive wages up for the average American Worker.

 

Quotes

Quote

 According to Bloomberg, President Joe Biden will “in the coming days” direct the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to draft new regulations to empower consumers to repair their devices on their own and at independent shops.

 

Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the order would give them "the right to repair their own equipment how they like.” White House economic adviser Brian Deese said on Friday that the order is broadly designed to drive “greater competition in the economy, in service of lower prices for American families and higher wages for American workers.”

 

My thoughts

Honestly, I think it's great that more and more people are pushing the idea of Right to Repair to the mainstream. I mean, how much more mainstream do you get than the POTUS? Someone who, granted, lacks a lot in power, but makes up in influence. I mean, an order to the FTC isn't the same as getting it passed through both houses of Congress and signed (at least I think so I may be wrong about this), but it's a step in the right direction.

 

I just hope that the fact that a high-ranking politician mentioned Right to Repair doesn't turn the Right to Repair issue into an "Us vs. Them" issue, as happens time and time again in American Politics. Hopefully this issue can stay neutral, with all parties in favor of it, not to get too political.

 

Sources

President Biden will order the FTC to draft 'right to repair' rules | Engadget

[StDragon]

Meanwhile, the British right to repair law EXCLUDES cookers, stove tops, tumble dryers, microwaves, laptops and smartphones. You know, the stuff people actually want to repair on their own.

 

I suspect the US law might mimic the one in the UK.

[cj09beira]

nice

[TetraSky]

Excellent news.
But I fully expect companies to just make their devices harder and harder to "pry open", likely breaking them in the process, to force people to buy new ones instead of ever thinking of repairing them.

[leadeater]

The decision has been made to lock this topic as the subject matter is simultaneously too close to politics and is inevitable that discussion will end up more about that than a technology discussion. However I encourage all to read this and the article and be informed about it as much as possible.