I love NOS met het oog op morgen, the dutch public broadcast podcast, they invite people over to talk about all sorts of different news topics, or about books they wrote, or songs they written or theater or art they made, but also about news and politics. Its really diverse and super interesting. And loooove this initiative, can't wait to take my appliances apart so I can clean them better also lol.
this post was submitted on 01 Aug 2026
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There is no repair without firmware. All hardware needs to be documented and ship with source. It hasn't been enough to be able to buy physical parts since perhaps the 80s or 90s. Everything is controlled by software. Without that right to repair is a joke. Meanwhile the surveillance industry and their well greased govt supporters are trying to lock down software. Can't have it both ways.
They pass dystopian chat control with one hand and does this with the other.
The EU is a complex organization with different power poles and a variety of different interests. Add to that members of parliament do not always understand everything they vote for. And yes: you get bad things, nonsensical rules, but also good things.
Overall, I would say it's positive, but when it's bad it can be brutal.
Edit: I forgot to mention lobbying! Brussels is full of lobbyists!
All those people in Brussels are out of touch. They live in their own world.
Seriously, talk about major whiplash with how they do things lmao
If only they could have done this with games.
Every program is open source
Hopefully, malicious compliance loopholes will be fixed eventually
Unfortunately there are some exemptions. Flexible / folding displays are not covered. Fitness trackers and watches are not covered.
There is also a battery regulation coming in next year to require phone batteries to be replaceable with no tools but that has loop holes too - long life batteries aren't covered, IP67 rated phones aren't covered. So you can bet your boots those two reasons will be what makers use to bullshit their way out of it.
Flexible / folding displays are not covered
So that's why after almost a decade, only now Apple is ready to launch their foldable
Fitness trackers would be hard to make them easy repairable, when most of them is waterproof
Gaskets are a thing. Many, many, many watches would brag about their water resistance up to 10, 50, 100 meters depth. So I don't think the excuse is credible.
Having those rules is much better than not having them. Also, IP rating is not enough, batteries also need to have sufficient load cycles. So if it forces them to use only long life batteries that reduces the need for battery repkacements and is already something.
Also software... I would love to have regulations that make it clear that the root of trust on all devices need to start by the owner of the device, not by the vendor... That would allow the end users to repair the software on their devices... Replacing it with whatever else they want. Next would be to provide hardware documentation to the owners to program their own devices... I don't expect that to happen, but I can dream.
Well it's a start.
But not games...
Ah fuck boys, we enacted this landmark repairability legislation for daily use machines, but forgot to include video games.
For real though do you mean game consoles, the software?
They're referencing the stop killing games initiative that was turned down recently. It is akin to this but the software version.
Games industry is somehow infinitely more corrupt.
I like this for a lot of obvious reasons.
I worry about corporate malicious compliance though where the cost of a replacement part costs as much as the unit or near it to make up for lost revenue from selling whole units.
They could even get to the printer ink model where they sell the initial device for cheap or at a lost with planned obsolescence of parts that almost guarantee a replacement rate.
With this though I think there is legal stance because prohibitively high prices can be used as grounds to say that a product "can't be repaired". The legal precedent is there, you can't just say "technically we give you the option, it's just $2m".
I really hope you’re right about this. I’ve lost a lot of trust in legal arguments the last few years.
Water kettle stopped working, has fucking temper proof triangle head screws so can't even open it without having to buy a special screwdriver bit. name and shame : kitchenaid
Mine had Philips screws and was easy to open, but the switch that was broken proved impossible to find as a spare part. It's a shame that I have to bin something that should've been easy to repair.
I can go one further, if you ever want to do a warrenty claim with coffeemate, regardless of how small, they require you to cut the power cord.
I bought a cheap coffeemate coffee maker, and the anti-splash valve that prevents it from brewing fell off, and I lost the o-ring that was part of it as a result.
After 3 different contact points with coffee mate as their public listed email only warranty contact was incorrect and then was bounced to a couple more emails, they agreed it was a manufacturer problem, and that it was covered, but they wanted me to cut the power cord and show proof that the unit was no longer functional, because instead of sending me a 10¢ if that o ring, they wanted me to destroy a other than that one comp a perfectly functional unit, so they could send a whole new unit in it's place.
I bought a cheap oring set on amazon, so now I have more than I would ever need of orings but, at least it's less wasteful.
Hold on, don't they know a cut cord can be soldered back together? You don't even need image generators to fake breaking it...
yea I found it weird as well. I assume they figure most people don't have the skills to just connect it again.
When I was looking into it, it's common practice for kitchen appliance warranties to have that as a requirement for warranty support when they are giving a replacement, likely they are trying to disincentivize someone getting a replacement for a minor issue, and then reselling one of the two appliances they have to make a profit, which I do understand for replacements but... in my case why not just send the replacement part... it likely could even go via an envelope and only pay the price of a stamp.
Theres no way paying to send a whole coffee maker is cheaper than sending a o-ring or a washer....
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