Oregon's New Right to Repair Law Bans 'Parts Pairing' Restrictions

[AlmightyKang]

It's like buying a second hand car. It makes perfectly sense as long as you know what you are doing.

Wait until someone wants you to fix the poor battery life on their 6 month old second hand Sony Android handset. When you crack it open you find the previous repairer used superglue to glue the logic board back in because they broke the screw posts and there is no way to get the battery out ever again.

That is all too common these days.

That is also 100% correlation with people who care so little about doing the work that they will shovel the cheapest garbage into your device they can get their hands on and charge you the vendor parts price for it.

And don't start me on cars. That's a whole another area where we need to improve. My car was written off in 2004 by someone who's car was screwed up by an independent mechanic who did a bad job. Not fun at 70mph when their car comes flying over the centre reservation on the motorway and took the side of mine. I had my two kids and wife in the car. Half a second earlier and that'd have been head on at 120mph closing speed and we'd all be dead.

If you want independent repair, you need standards. And when it comes to cars, it's not about what you know but what the person crashing into you knows.

 

[CrapShack]

Can't wait for the shaky video of an iPhone with a crappy 3rd party replacement battery catching fire on a plane in mid-flight, then the media hype surrounding it blaming the whole thing on Apple! How fun!

 

[nightfox818]

I agree with and like right to repair but I think that a users repair should void an Apple warranty.

This shouldn't be an issue since Apple will repair it if it's under warranty.

That’s how it has always worked. When I repaired laptops and desktop PCs back in the day, I made customers sign a waiver that my actions would probably void any remaining manufacturer warranty, here’s my warranty, and the warranty of the repair. If their brand new Dell or HP broke, I’d even tell them you should contact them because I’m going to void your warranty.

Why would farm equipment and air conditioners get an exemption?

They bribed lobbied more. Probably.

 

[0339327]

Apple is a business/corporation that has public shareholders. Every business has to maximise profits. That's not to say Apple couldn't make so much money from selling parts, but I think they're just not being risky.

Most of Apple's revenue comes from customers.
So where do you think Apple should increase prices?

Apple has changed the way it does business, several times.
In business you must make choices and focus on the long term as much, and often more than the short term.

Apple has opted to put profits above all else and while that helps for the short term, it’s disastrous for the long term. This behavior is catching up as Apple stock has become volatile and remains at 2021 market pricing.

So, my point is, again, the world is speaking and Apple has a choice: to be a leader and figure out a way to change the way they operate and profit from the changes, or be forced to do so at great cost and disturbance.

It has been very clear, so far, that Apple would rather spend hundreds of millions on attorney fees than to actually be a change leader.

 

[Sophisticatednut]

MR forgot to include "stolen parts" "parts from stolen donor devices".

A reason why Apple went all OCD on parts pairing was also to reduce the desirability of Apple devices among thieves if Apple can prevent the use of stolen parts/devices onto legitimate broken devices.

Thats a bull*hit reason tho.

Apple could have easily implemented the same thing with one small change.

Any part that comes from an existing device that is paired with a device that have ether been reported stolen(MEID/IMEI/ICCID number is device specific) or reported lost in Find My.

When the device gets the parts replaced they make a hash check with Apple to control if the part is flagged in apples system, if not it will be paired with the new device.

There zero reason to go overboard with genuine parts and cannibalized parts from broken devices.

See how easy I figured a solution in Les time than a coffee break that isn’t as intrusive and hostile to consumers, the environment and repair stores

 

[irq987]

So Apple will stop selling iPhones in Oregon. Cool.

I don’t see sales being affected, but can Apple legally repair their own phones in Oregon if the “parts pairing” is what is banned?

 

[aj_niner]

Thats a bull*hit reason tho.

Apple could have easily implemented the same thing with one small change.

Any part that comes from an existing device that is paired with a device that have ether been reported stolen(MEID/IMEI/ICCID number is device specific) or reported lost in Find My.

When the device gets the parts replaced they make a hash check with Apple to control if the part is flagged in apples system, if not it will be paired with the new device.

There zero reason to go overboard with genuine parts and cannibalized parts from broken devices.

See how easy I figured a solution in Les time than a coffee break that isn’t as intrusive and hostile to consumers, the environment and repair stores

The labor cost for your implementation would be interesting to behold.

 

[AppliedMicro]

Can't wait for the shaky video of an iPhone with a crappy 3rd party replacement battery catching fire on a plane in mid-flight, then the media hype surrounding it blaming the whole thing on Apple! How fun!

Not only has Apple sold more dangerous devices themselves. They've sold billions of devices with rechargeable batteries, iPhones, iPods, iPads and notebook computers over decades. (almost) None of which has used technical measures to lock out third-party batteries.

We have been fine, and so has Apple.

 

[ifxf]

Nothing prevents apple from adding a screen in setup to report if all parts are genuine.

 

[dominiongamma]

Good to see anti-repair, anti-consumer, anti-environment crap getting stamped out! The only potential downside is theft for parts- Apple need to find a way to digitally stamp the parts so they can see where they ended up.

Hoping they reverse this awful law

 

[centauratlas]

It’s not just the NSA that will be thrilled in .01% of cases but the average consumer in the other 99.9% of cases. Weird omission but I’m glad to help you out!

You mean like the Snowden releases where the NSA was spying on every single person in the US? And the world? It was the 99.9% that were spied upon. If the three letter agencies anywhere in the world can do it, they will. Yes, replacing parts is more complicated, but it can open other avenues.

 

[Krizoitz]

This is another nail in the coffin for the way Apple does business.

Unfortunately. User choice is being stripped away and we are all being forced into one type of option.

I wish they’d lead the industry instead of holding on for dear life.

They are leading the industry. They are leading it in quality, user privacy, user satisfaction, ease of use, and more. Now they are being dragged backwards by overregulation designed solely to benefit Apples competitors at the expense of Apple users.

Open iMessage to Android
Support RCS
Allow direct iPhone app downloads
Provide choice for Apple competing Apps

Sounds like you want an Android phone. Good news you can buy one right now!

Instead you and others like you are ruining the iPhone experience for those of us who prefer it. Thanks for taking away our choice because you are too stubborn to make yours.

 

[Sophisticatednut]

The labor cost for your implementation would be interesting to behold.

It’s basically already implemented by 90%.
The MEID/IMEI/ICCID number is already in apples database as the manufacturer of it.

when you report a device stolen it’s often asked to have the MEID/IMEI/ICCID number at hand for identification/verification of the device.

Currently when you change the screen or battery the device requires the part to be verified by an Apple personal(for some reason) and to be paired with the new device as “genuine”

I would bet my implementation would take less man hours than the current system took.

 

[Sophisticatednut]

Unfortunately. User choice is being stripped away and we are all being forced into one type of option.

Oh and what’s being stripped away here? The choice of not Installing 3rd party apps outside the appst replacement parts without the need of apples approval?

Now they are being dragged backwards by overregulation designed solely to benefit Apples competitors at the expense of Apple users.

So the ability to repair your device or parts of it instead of replacing it with a new one or repairing it for 90% of the cost of a new one?

Sounds like you want an Android phone. Good news you can buy one right now!

Sound like he wants the experience of the MacOS.

Instead you and others like you are ruining the iPhone experience for those of us who prefer it. Thanks for taking away our choice because you are too stubborn to make yours.

Freedom of others isn’t impacting you

 

[1129846]

Thats a bull*hit reason tho.

Apple could have easily implemented the same thing with one small change.

Any part that comes from an existing device that is paired with a device that have ether been reported stolen(MEID/IMEI/ICCID number is device specific) or reported lost in Find My.

When the device gets the parts replaced they make a hash check with Apple to control if the part is flagged in apples system, if not it will be paired with the new device.

There zero reason to go overboard with genuine parts and cannibalized parts from broken devices.

See how easy I figured a solution in Les time than a coffee break that isn’t as intrusive and hostile to consumers, the environment and repair stores

And the real kicker is cost to do that for Apple will be next to zero as it is already all setup to do it with the existing system.

 

[0339327]

Unfortunately. User choice is being stripped away and we are all being forced into one type of option.


They are leading the industry. They are leading it in quality, user privacy, user satisfaction, ease of use, and more. Now they are being dragged backwards by overregulation designed solely to benefit Apples competitors at the expense of Apple users.



Sounds like you want an Android phone. Good news you can buy one right now!

Instead you and others like you are ruining the iPhone experience for those of us who prefer it. Thanks for taking away our choice because you are too stubborn to make yours.

You totally missed the point.

This isn’t about what I want, or you want: it’s about how the world is changing and, in that light, Apple isn’t leading…not by a long shot.

In business, you must be able to accelerate when things are chaotic and Apple is dragging its feet. Part of a solid executive team is having the ability to use the power of the “and”: Be highly profitable AND change the way you make money on the App Store and services. Be protective of your device and software AND open it up where appropriate.

Steve himself made this mistake when the original iPhone lacked an SDK, yet changed his outlook after industry insiders convinced him that the iPhone NEEDS third-party apps.

Apple stock is at 2021 prices and, more concerning, has become volatile. If they keep spending time and money defending the old, they will quickly loose sight of what’s needed to create the new and I’m unsure if Tim has the mindset to shift away from short-term great profits to long-term great products.

Just because he got us here doesn’t mean he has what it takes to get us there. I don’t know. Tim’s a great CEO, one of the best, but Apple definitely needs a correction and it doesn’t appear to be prioritizing that.

 

[cmcbhi]

This is another nail in the coffin for the way Apple does business.

I wish they’d lead the industry instead of holding on for dear life.

With so many smart people there, why can’t they find a way to rethink how they profitize this stuff?

The world is decentralizing technology and Apple has an amazing opportunity to lead this change. I’m not suggesting any specific action but it’s obvious that within three years Apple will be forced to do the following:

Open iMessage to Android
Support RCS
Allow direct iPhone app downloads
Provide choice for Apple competing Apps
Allow anyone to repair any device however they want

If Apple would lead the change they would be seen as supportive of individual rights. Instead, Apple is seen as putting profits above all else…including privacy.

Personally, every one of your points is offensive to me.
I now would like an App that sends all communication from "modified" Phones to "Junk".

 

[vakarpochui]

And the real kicker is cost to do that for Apple will be next to zero as it is already all setup to do it with the existing system.

They just don’t want to.

 

[0339327]

Personally, every one of your points is offensive to me.
I now would like an App that sends all communication from "modified" Phones to "Junk".

Read my reply post, the one above yours.

There are lots of things about the current economy I don’t like either, but that’s not the point here.

 

[vakarpochui]

You totally missed the point.

This isn’t about what I want, or you want: it’s about how the world is changing and, in that light, Apple isn’t leading…not by a long shot.

In business, you must be able to accelerate when things are chaotic and Apple is dragging its feet. Part of a solid executive team is having the ability to use the power of the “and”: Be highly profitable AND change the way you make money on the App Store and services. Be protective of your device and software AND open it up where appropriate.

Steve himself made this mistake when the original iPhone lacked an SDK, yet changed his outlook after industry insiders convinced him that the iPhone NEEDS third-party apps.

Apple stock is at 2021 prices and, more concerning, has become volatile. If they keep spending time and money defending the old, they will quickly loose sight of what’s needed to create the new and I’m unsure if Tim has the mindset to shift away from short-term great profits to long-term great products.

Just because he got us here doesn’t mean he has what it takes to get us there. I don’t know. Tim’s a great CEO, one of the best, but Apple definitely needs a correction and it doesn’t appear to be prioritizing that.

In other words results of the past don’t guarantee future success.

 

[The_Gream]

Just a question, I thought Apple’s repair training was a free option pretty much anyone can access learn and take a test on. Once you passed, you were considered a certified technician and could order parts directly from Apple.

It has been a few years since I last looked at the repair training page so things might have changed.

Also, wasn’t it because of the reports of stolen phones (both from customers and from Apple) for the purpose of parting them out, that Apple started implementing part pairing?

Pretty sure if both of my questions are answered the way I remember, people already had a right to repair their Apple products with genuine OEM parts.

Once again - I feel this is a law that is providing a solution for a problem that wouldn’t exist if if they (the government) actually enforced laws against theft with harsher punishment and encouraged the citizens to not be sheeple but real educated people.

 

[phenste]

There is a world of difference between John Deere requiring a technician to Enter a code to change an oil filter, And Apple ensuring that a component like a camera or wifi chip doesn’t have a hardware exploit inserted by an intelligence agency in the supply chain.

And that’s not an outlandish example. Every country with an intelligence agency has departments dedicated to doing exactly that kind of thing.

NSA Hacker Chief Explains How to Keep Him Out of Your System

The nation's hacker-in-chief took up the ironic task at the Enigma Conference in San Francisco.

www.wired.com

That’s the reality of why Apple encrypts the data traffic across components. People want to pretend that repairs are somehow a lucrative business model for Apple when it’s a rounding error in terms of revenue.

Tech illiterate lawmakers are just bowing to the pressure from these influences in The same way the FBI for years insisted it wasn’t *technically impossible* for it to ask Apple for a backdoor to encryption just for “the good guys”.

thank you for pointing out the disparity between what John Deere does and what Apple does, and displaying something important: this gets into complex security issues that I, for one, am willing to admit my own ignorance to—an ignorance I don’t doubt is shared by some others in this thread (really not tryna come for anyone, I haven’t even read the comments, just saying this stuff is complex!)

I do think, as another commenter (edit: @PixelsMaster) pointed out, Apple users deserve to at least know whether their parts are OEM or third-party, and make a choice from there. I am generally extremely, extremely pro right-to-repair because it’s the exact kind of legislation that corporations will (and do, see: John Deere) abuse without it in place. it gets complicated when we start talking about replacing parts in smartphones, the essential everyday device in 2024 with our entire lives practically loaded onto them. there’s room for malice, but that’s where my ignorance comes in: I don’t know if Secure Enclave + other security measures put in place by Apple are enough to curb any reasonable fears about third-party parts. I legitimately just don’t know because it’s not my area of expertise, and I would look to people who specialize in cryptography/computer security to speak on this.

 

[cmcbhi]

I read your post. I would still like an App that would send Hacked phone communications to the same junk file that it sends SPM calls/texts/email.
FWIW I don't Ticky-Tocky, FaceBook, X, or other sources of misinformation. Don't bother with Truth Social either.

 

[AppliedMicro]

I now would like an App that sends all communication from "modified" Phones to "Junk".

So if one of your friends or family members gets their battery replaced at the a kiosk at the mall, you'd rather have all of their communication sent do junk automatically?

Hilarious. But also a display of priorities and character in live, I guess.

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

Do I find part pairing annoying? Yes. Do I think this bill is dumb? Also yes.