EU Prepares "Right to Repair" Legislation to Fight Short Product Lifespans

Re:EU Prepares "Right to Repair" Legislation to Fight Short ... by jpalomaki on Monday July 10, 2017 @07:31AM (#14734967)

Have been wondering if these consumer protection things also extend to software side. For example is a mobile phone or Internet router considered broken, if the software contains critical security problem for which no patch exists?

I believe the answer should be yes, but not sure how courts and consumer protection officials view this thing. If they would go with defining security bugs as defects, this would have implications for example to IoT security. This would create more incentives for manufacturers to focus on security and figure out how to patch the products that are out there.

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Re:EU Prepares "Right to Repair" Legislation to Fight Short ... by maaaats on Monday July 10, 2017 @08:32AM (#14735308)

In Norway, people got to turni their Playstation when they removed the ability to run Linux, as it no longer worked as advertised.

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Re:EU Prepares "Right to Repair" Legislation to Fight Short ... by d8421l01vv4r on Monday July 10, 2017 @08:06AM (#14735167)

> Have been wondering if these consumer protection things also extend to software side. For example is a mobile phone or Internet router considered broken, if the software contains critical security problem for which no patch exists?

Would you consider your front door broken if it is vulnerable to being opened with a screwdriver? What about a wine glass that breaks unless you aren't extremely careful when washing it?

In my opinion it depends on how it was marketed.

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Re:EU Prepares "Right to Repair" Legislation to Fight Short ... by tonyedgecombe on Monday July 10, 2017 @08:19AM (#14735229)

This might also increase the price for a lot of this stuff. I bought a router for my mother in law for £30, you don't get much after sales support for £30.

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