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Comment by xbar | Hacker News Reader

...we conclude by explaining that, based on the record before us, it is clear that repair restrictions have diluted the effectiveness of Section 102(c) and steered consumers into manufacturers’ repair networks or to replace products before the end of their useful lives.

Based on a review of comments submitted and materials presented during the Workshop, there is scant evidence to support manufacturers’ justifications for repair restrictions.18

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These findings should also apply to phone manufacturers -- mandate providing a more realistic number of years of security updates. Closer to 7y but definitely more than 3y.

That would raise up the price of most cheap Android devices that don't come with update guarantees, not even for 3y.

maybe that's necessary? You wouldn't say someone should be able to buy an unsafe car because they are poor.

ultimately, it would probably force Google to just take it over (which to some extent they already have, but not completely).

The unsafe car makes the roads unsafe for everyone, not just the driver of the car.

Bad phones make for bad times for whoever uses the phone, not for anyone else. Also, people rarely get killed by bad consumer electronics.

Bad phones can lead tonmass surveillance by dictatorships and persecution of dissidents, ensuring that manufactures keep up with security for an extended period of time could help those populations a lot.

cars are not the best analogy as they rely on shared responsibility for safety. However, most home appliances are similar - say unsafe earthing on the dishwasher.

Safety is one of the easiest arguments to make - esp. exploiting the horrific - "think of the children". What if my kid's phone camera can be remotely turned on in their bedroom?

Unless you bought an estoteric device with a mechanical hardware off switch, all our cameras and microphones can and likely have been eavesdropped on.

I wouldn’t call electronic lab equipment (like oscilloscopes, bench power supplies, etc) “esoteric”, but it is true that less and less devices do. Power switches on desktop computers are soft switches; The power supply is always on. To fully turn it off, the power supply sometimes has a physical switch on it, but those are at the back of the case.

Pulling the plug on a desktop computer ain't hard. I actually dont have camera or microphone, either on the desktop pc (although headphones can work as a mic, even harddrives can).

All the laptops I have - do have removable batteries (unless you count 2032 cmos ones - that are harder to reach). I have opened all of them, upgraded, repaired (as in mosfets/capacitors), cleaned, etc.

One of the phones has a removable battery(!), still. Pretty much any other device/appliance has a plug or a mechanical switch (or both).

A device that cannot be safely used after 3y is not worth whatever price.

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