this post was submitted on 15 May 2024
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Right to Repair

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Whether it be electronics, automobiles or medical equipment, the manufacturers should not be able to horde “oem” parts, render your stuff useless if you repair it with aftermarket parts, or hide schematics of their products.

I Fix It Repair Manifesto

Summary article from I Fix It

Summary video by Marques Brownlee

Great channel covering and advocating right to repair, Lewis Rossman

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Basic blender went bad (motor ran but spindle wasn't rotating). I wanted to disassemble to see if it could be repaired. Three of the four screws were Phillips head. I had to cut the casing open in order to discover why I couldn't unscrew the fourth. It was a slotted spanner.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago (2 children)

A single tamper proof screw that all that's required to remove is knowledge... Yes. Unfortunately stupid people try to do things they shouldn't and that single screw removes an idiots ability to sue after they screw with things they know not.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

and that single screw removes an idiots ability to sue after they screw with things they know not.

It's not how it works...

[–] [email protected] -3 points 6 months ago

That's exactly how it works and honestly this photo series is a pretty good illustration of why it works.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Or they could just not be able to sue a company for being an idiot 🤷‍♂️

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Excuse me, I thought this was America!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (2 children)

There's the way the world works and the way the world aught to work according to xyz.

One is reality the other isn't. Realistically if you don't expect a security screw when taking apart dangerous electronics you probably shouldn't be working on them.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago (1 children)

The tamper proof screw is NOT there to protect you, It's there to discourage repairs plain and simple. A warning label is more than adequate on other blenders, why not this one? In fact, there are plenty of dangerous devices I can think of that don't need to be locked down to prevent lawsuits. A lawsuit would require negligence on the part of the manufacture and while you're trying to say by not locking it down it could be considered negligence you'd be wrong. Otherwise I could quit my job and just file lawsuits all day. Let's not try to defend these companies that engineer planned obsolescence into their products. All they want is to be the sole repair option (big profit margins) or have you buy a new over priced high markup item. Nevermind the waste generated by hrowing away perfectly good products that a simple easy repair would fix.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (3 children)

The tamper proof screw is NOT there to protect you, It's there to discourage repairs plain and simple.

Point to where I said it was there to protect you. It's quite literally to avoid lawsuits putting the screw there implies it's meant to be taken apart by a professional, not Ted down the street who stopped school in third grade.

All they have to do is point to that screw and the lawsuit dies then and there no further action.

It's also not planned obsolescence in this case, it's a barrier to repair. Literally a hoop too small to jump through that catches the dumbest of the well meaning. It would be planned obsolescence (arguably) if it prevented repair, it doesn't it simply complicates it. It's the same reason your seatbelt part ≈00 is held down by a large torx t50-60 and no longer a 15mm bolt.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

It's quite literally to avoid lawsuits putting the screw there implies it's meant to be taken apart by a professional, not Ted down the street who stopped school in third grade.

You got it so backwards...

[–] [email protected] -2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Not at all, and nuh uh is rarely a valid point.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

So you keep saying that company can say "screwyaboo" in court and it will work? America is such wild place.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Essentially yeah.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

You lost me on the seatbelt thing. What's going on there?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago

Nothing they got the point of. Essentially manufacturers use security through obscurity, put in a tamper proof screw in and most people who aren't capable of doing the repair won't have the correct bit and will understandably not attempt to muck around with whatever it is.

Why dude wants to argue with a master tech about tamper proof bits purpose not being to resist tampering is beyond me, next they'll argue how people movers aren't meant to move people but rather to shift lifeforms from place to place....

[–] [email protected] 0 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Madison, I'm not really sure what you're argument is here. Let's look at your seat belt argument. Torx (or star bits as they're now called since Torx is a brand name) has become a ubiquitous standard in the automotive world and absolutely irrelevant to the poor point you're trying to make. Auto makers use star bits because they enable a rounded dome shape that is smaller and requires no space around the bolt head to accommodate a thick socket. You may have assumed it was to prevent removal but no auto maker has ever declared that as a reason. Considering that even basic starter tool kits come with star bits these days I'd say that makes them a poor choice as a lawsuit prevention method. There are too many other "dangerous products" out there that don't have silly screws and yet somehow are able to avoid frivolous lawsuits. I'm not sure why defending this practice is the hill your want to die on but making repairs difficult to avoid a lawsuit is something only a sucker would believe.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

They're literally called security bits you absolute bell end, the name is literally the description of their purpose.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Personally to me I think we need to stop idiot proofing everything.

I'm not saying remove all safety standards or warnings but we've gone too fuckin far to the point a complete moron has to be protected and treated like a child which just holds the rest of us back.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

I'm all for having less idiots but reality differs.