Apple Says Nebraska Will Become A 'Mecca For Hackers' If Right To Repair Bill Passes
from the nebraska-cornhackers dept
It looks like Apple decided to drop in on flyover country in hopes of thwarting a "Right to Repair" bill pending in the Nebraska legislature. It did not go well.
[T]he prospect of a Cupertino-based megacorporation losing business to local repair shops isn't a very sympathetic argument at the Nebraska statehouse. And so Apple has tried a slew of other tactics, according to state Sen. Lydia Brasch, who was recently visited by Steve Kester, an Apple state government affairs specialist.
"Apple said we would be the only state that would pass this, and that we would become the mecca for bad actors," Brasch, who is sponsoring the bill, told me in a phone call. "They said that doing this would make it very easy for hackers to relocate to Nebraska."
Apple probably expected its heavy-handed (and stupid -- more on that in a bit) "suggestion" to be taken more seriously by podunk legislators in the middle of nowhere. Unfortunately for Apple, Brasch isn't just a legislator in a state mainly known for corn and football-as-religion.
Brasch is not only an Apple customer, but she's a farmer who has had to deal with plenty of repair-blocking BS from companies like John Deere. She also has a background in computer science and an apparent tendency to not let corporate lawyers talk down to her.
Not only did Apple pick the wrong legislator to threaten, its threat is incoherent. I've spent most of the last 15 years in the Midwest and, trust me, it would take far more than a right-to-repair bill's passage to make Nebraska a mecca of anything. (Beyond college football, he said to head off the Cornhusker faithful most likely already demanding a retraction…)
Then there's the thing about "hackers." There's more than one type of hacker, but Apple dropped it as a pejorative term in hopes of conjuring images of hoodied figures sitting in dark rooms with the local SWAT team on speed dial and deploying some sort of encryption… you know, the evil kind.
All sorts of nonsensical arguments are already being raised in response to a handful of right-to-repair bills around the nation. The corporate version of "you'll shoot your eye out" has been deployed to portray DIY repair jobs as hospitalizations waiting to happen.
The idea that it's "unsafe" to repair your own devices is one that manufacturers have been promoting for years. Last year, industry lobbyists told lawmakers in Minnesota that broken glass could cut the fingers of consumers who try to repair their screens, according to Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director of Repair.org. Byrne said she will also testify at the Nebraska hearing and "plans to bring band aids."
Apple's take is this: the "hacker mecca" thing plus a very short parade of not-all-that-horribles.
Brasch said the representatives made two other main arguments: They said repair could cause lithium batteries to catch fire, and said that there are already enough authorized places to get iPhones repaired, such as the Apple store.
Define "enough." As Brasch points out, getting her devices repaired "conveniently" involves setting up an appointment at the nearest Apple store, which is 80 miles from where she lives. Apple certainly doesn't mind taking money from rurally-located customers when selling devices. But it's not nearly as willing to make repairing their purchased products actually convenient.
And it's not just Apple. Other phone manufacturers have spoken to Brasch in an attempt to get her to drop the legislation, or at least rewrite it in their favor.
"They said just take out the 'phone' part of the bill and we'll go away," Brasch said. "That's tempting, but we need to repair consumer technology too."
Brasch's bill sprung out of her frustration with repairing her farm's equipment, which has been made increasingly difficult by John Deere's refusal to allow anyone other than repair shops it makes to profit from touching its products. Phone manufacturers have the same attitude. They express faux concern about consumer safety while preventing consumers from having any control over how their purchased devices are repaired. The concern most of these companies have for their consumers only extends as far as their ability to purchase add-ons, new products, and inconvenient repairs at non-competitive prices. The battle is over bottom lines, not consumer safety, no matter how it's spun and no matter how many hacker-based horror stories are spun.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: lobbying, lydia brasch, nebraska, right to repair
Companies: apple
Reader Comments
The First Word
“And I also hear the Nebraska Right to Repair bill is earmarking money for a hacker gated community, hacker bike sharing program and hacker farmers market in order to further spur their hacker economic recovery plan.
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
why regulation tends to not work
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
And this whole 'corporations vs electorate' schism is crap. Corporations are made of people. Same as every other group - even groups of one.
And every group uses whatever levers of power it can get its hands on to try to change the legislative environment to its benefit.
Sometimes you agree with those changes - because they benefit you - and thus they are 'good' and sometimes you don't.
The solution here is not 'to get the right people in charge' - because there aren't any. The solution is to limit the amount of power these people have to screw things over.
Keep in mind that Apple and Deere can only do what they're because of special dispensation given to them by the government.
Absent regulation, there is no mechanism for Apple to force you into using its designated repair facilities - anything not prohibited is allowed, after all - you would be free to tinker to your heart's desire without worrying about the cops busting your door down.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
Currently, due to the money needed to compete with adverts etc., that is the political parties and the corporations who can fund them.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
The ONLY thing government regulation does is remove "The Peoples" chair from the bargaining table. I think SOPA, TPP, TTIP, and several others like it are positive proof of this.
Big governments and corporations sit behind closed doors to negotiate things. Notice that there is no place for "the people" in any of that.
The government has blessed many businesses with all sorts of power to prevent you from properly OWNING you electronics. DRM and your inability to skip past advertisements is a BIG part of that. When was the last time Government had your back when one of the big boys was fucking you over?
Never... that is when. Take the fines against Vizio... the Government gets the fines, and the fines were low enough to continue to justify the spying and no one at Vizio goes to jail. Sony placed malware on computers without the consumers knowledge and no one went to jail. Meanwhile a few people are in jail just for gaining access to 1 "important" persons email.
There is simply no end to stupid people like you that think government is here to save you, when all they are going to do is "trick" you into thinking they are helping when all they are doing is controlling things with your ignorant and sycophantic blessings to boot!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
You mean currently due to the electorate not holding their feet to the fire and constantly calling to Mamma Gubmint to save them from the big bad corporations?
I guess the folks in Bophal were silly to run to momma gubmint over that pesticide plant.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster
Oh, wait, the regulators were paid to look the other way.
Or how about Columbia meat packing in Dallas, that dumped pig blood into the river? Yeah, Big Momma passed a law in Texas forbidding photography using drones. Three guesses who lobbied to get that law passed, and in record time too!
So, going with your stated position, I guess citizens shouldn't go to gubmint about things. Just grab that trusty old blunderbuss and "go take care of bidness."
HEY! Is that a MILKWEED I see in your lawn!? Let me get my blunderbuss and we'll "talk".
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: AC Bophal
So, it looks to me that there's no use for government regulators as no matter what you do, they're in cahoots with 'the corporations'.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Gubmint?
Clearly you are a serious person with serious ideas.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
No, a group of one is, by definition, made of a person, not people.
Also, it's not a group.
And absent regulation, there is no mechanism to prevent Apple from locking its workers in a building without bathroom breaks for 80-hour work weeks.
Some laws and regulations are good. Some are bad. Most people would file this under "no shit."
In fact, I'd venture so far as to say that, in general, regulations that benefit individuals at the expense of corporations are good, while regulations that benefit corporations at the expense of individuals are bad. Why, that schism doesn't sound like crap at all.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re:
Absent regulators you're just helpless? You can't unionize? Colletive action? You know, the things your ancestors did *in the face of government (and private) efforts to allow their enslavement*?
Absent government, you would just meekly submit?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
/s
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
Do you know why people unionized?
To pass regulations, you dink.
Child labor laws? Ever hear of those? OSHA standards? Are these things ringing any bells?
That's cute how you're pretending you've got some knowledge of history, while failing to realize that I'm not referring to a hypothetical.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_Shirtwaist_Factory_fire
That's what happens when there are no labor laws, Aggie.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
I'm pretty sure your local river hasn't caught on fire recently unless there was an oil spill. That used to be a thing because of much crud/oil/etc was in the rivers... You might have heard of the Mahoning River and let alone the Cuyahoga River that only caught fire 8 or so times before the EPA, clean air, & clean water acts were passed... Edit before submission: Wiki says at least 13 -fires- on the river
Simplistic views of "Regulations" like some 10th grader who just for the first time both read Ayn Rand and got high... is as stupid now as it ever was. (I won't say which party is worse for this in the US for this POV, because both have Corporatists in them that spew this nonsense b/c of legalized bribes campaign donations to try and make more money for the Corps... but that is another issue entirely) But just like the 'concept' of "government regulations that set a -max- quality of steel to be used in the railroads", most concepts about "how 'pure evil' regulations are" are based on false pretenses.
People holding signs in the "tea party" era saying: "keep your government hands off my medicare" are perfect examples of uneducated viewpoints like yours.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Complete Straw-Man argument. Being Anti-Regulation does not mean Zero-Regulation. It's like saying everyone that is Pro-choice is okay with babies being aborted 100% throughout the pregnancy including well past viability and not all are like that. Or like saying everyone that is Pro-Life would not allow for an abortion period when some are okay with abortion in cases where there is a danger to the mothers life.
In general regulation is just bad because it takes YOUR LIBERTY AWAY. Yes I think taking away peoples liberty to dump toxins in the environment is a good thing. But letting them tell everyone what they have to do AND HOW they have to do it is where it becomes nothing but a burden? For the same reasons TurboTax lobbies for complicated tax laws, and why toy manufactures want lead testing on toys to a degree that they can afford it but mom and pop toy makers cannot afford them. The same reasons why the FCC creates and blesses the Telco Oligarchy. The same reason the FTC allowed Zero Rating in their pseudo "net neutrality" rules.
It's all just a game to trick people into thinking they work so they will sign on for form. No one alive can truly understand how much better it could be because they live in constant fear of the Corporate Boogeymen! We have not had a free market for most people that are alive now. Copyright and Patents no longer serve the public good, they only serve their corporate masters and you don't even hear any elected officials paying any mind to them.
through "regulation" government has more access to your bank than you do. through "regulation" you cannot technically live without breaking the law in one fashion or another. through "regulation" you only get what government thinks you should have. through "regulation" you cannot even sell lemonade in your front yard. through regulation, you cannot give away free food to the poor that you just prepared. through regulation, the police can take your money if they want too. through regulation you cannot even do certain things on your property because "someone else" thinks it looks ugly and they should have a right to tell you what to do so they don't lose value in their property. through regulation, someone can use CPS to steal your child because they have money and connections and you can have them taken away if you just let them play across the street in a playground, or if one of your electrical receptacles is not protected in a way that an agent deems appropriate. through regulation, the police can knock your fucking house down and your insurance company does not have to pay for it, leaving you with no other recourse than to sue the city.
I am getting sick of it... sure there might be maybe 5% of regulation that really makes sense, but I mostly run into the 95% that tells me to just bend the fuck over.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
Yeah, I aught to be able to do what ever I want to do. This whole government regulation thing got started with that illegal emancipation proclamation.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
In fairness, bending the fuck over is the easiest way to pull statistics out of your ass.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
That could get us a step closer to fixing the DMCA such that it cannot be used as a way to prevent third party compatible products. (like ink cartridges, or garage door opener controls, etc.)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Why in the world is using the DMCA to prevent 3rd party repairs on a product under warranty legal to begin with?
IANAL, but "bricking" a product violates the implied warranty of fitness for use at the advertised purpose (as it was advertised as a phone, not a paperweight), and you can neither:
The first prong of the waiver test is trivial for bricking cases -- but I fail to see how bricking a device due to a third-party repair is in the public interest. (Repairing something seems to flunk points 4 and 5 of the "is this in scope of the DMCA?" test from Chamberlain v. Skylink, even if the device in question contains copyrighted software.)
If Apple did get a FTC waiver for their iPhone-bricking antics, I'd love to see the Federal Register cites for it, because it'd be illuminating as to what Apple did to argue around the public-interest prong. If they didn't...well, I suspect that's good grounds for a court case (with class action potential, even, although that's not necessary, considering the ideal remedy here is an injunction not damages).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
I'm not sure if this answers your question exactly, but it may get you down the road aways:
Companies put small bits of proprietary hardware/software in places they don't necessarily need to be, then claim that reverse engineering violates the DMCA, which *very* literally speaking, such act probably does, because the DMCA is worded very poorly.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
And its a lot harder to get a Federal suit started.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
John Deere to the rescue!
In a completely honest way, I'm glad that we've got a non-tech company that's taken point on this. It makes it much easier to explain to the neighbors why they should care about this issue by telling them that they can't service their lawn tractor anymore if John Deere gets its way.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: John Deere to the rescue!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: John Deere to the rescue!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: John Deere to the rescue!
Some might say it started with William Hewitt, who was president from 1955 to 1964. His education was in economics. but he did have experience at another tractor company before Deere.
More likely the real change started with Hans Brecherer in 1990. While he started at Deere in the 60's he was an MBA guy that worked mostly in marketing.
Next was Robert Lane in 2000 who's early career was in banking.
The current CEO is Samuel Allen, who is considered to be the one responsible for the success of the "intelligent mobile technologies". I think his education was Industrial Management from Purdue and he started at Deere as an Industrial Engineer in the 1970's.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: John Deere to the rescue!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
And I also hear the Nebraska Right to Repair bill is earmarking money for a hacker gated community, hacker bike sharing program and hacker farmers market in order to further spur their hacker economic recovery plan.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Good News
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Good News
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
HACKERS...
What's next, "Terrorists"?
Apple, the Right-to-Repair FUD machine.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Some of the other excuses Apple is using like Exploding battery's though is pretty LAME. What are they trying to do exactly as you can already replace screens and buttons by yourself or a 3rd party.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
You'd think they mighty walled garden would ship with a app where you press the button and it asks the mothership is this phone reported stolen. People buying 2nd hand phones would be protected as the number of stolen phones would drop because we trained them to press the verification button before purchasing it. If its been reported stolen, it could also throw out the GPS coords so that the police could follow that lead to the really dumb thief who stole a device that tells the world its stolen & denies them making money from the device.
Ooooh the battery could explode!!! And that is only helped along by more glue & other 'features' designed to make it harder for people to replace a battery on their own. Of course if Apple switched to a user replaceable battery the offical part would be 25x the cost & have some secret chip no one could legally replicate to ensure profits. Imagine the outcry if there were locked down tires, wiper blades, etc. on cars.
They can claim all sorts of things about how its all to protect consumers, and yes there will all ways be crap replacement parts, but its profits. They hold you beholden to them & reserve all of these rights but none of the responsibilities once a 'Genius' decides your cracked screen wasn't a material fault because the hidden sticker says it was water damage & has voided them having to fix it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
You mean there aren't yet? BRB, starting a new business. I'll be the Keurig of the automotive world.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What the hell are you talking about? One presumes that the button sends a scan of the finger to some more central part of the phone. Unless the button itself is verifying the finger, replacing the button should have no security effect.
Fingerprint scanners, including Apple's, are trivial to bypass from the outside, anyhow.
As opposed to people ending up unable to use their iPhones because they've lost the passwords. Either way, you lose the phone.
People get mugged for shoes and handbags, too. Should those be glued on?
It should always be possible to wipe and reset a device without knowing any passwords or having any fingerprints or showing any receipts or whatever. Not to get into it and see what's on it already, but to restore it to a usable blank state.
... and getting past the lock screen is a nonissue for phone theft anyway, since you can't change an IMEI without replacing the core of the phone. If your device gets stolen, the network can blacklist it. That may or may not be a good thing, but it means that we would not be "right back to people being mugged for iPhones" if it were possible to factory reset and reuse a device in your physical possession.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
O Noes!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: O Noes!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Sorry Folks, but they are correct to worry.
My slide into the horrors of hacker life had begun. Next I was rebuilding car engines, transmissions, building electronic circuits - and finally into programming. True hacking at its worst.
Hell, I still do my own auto work, thus depriving the dealer of excessive profits from $99 oil changes, $199 brake jobs... This hacker lifestyle has just ruined me.
And yes, I work on my John Deere myself.
Damn 64 year old hacker. I'm Never gonna learn.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Sorry Folks, but they are correct to worry.
That's clearly "stealing" from the dealers. Like copyright infringement.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Sorry Folks, but they are correct to worry.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Sorry Folks, but they are correct to worry.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Injuries
Well, how many people get cuts and busted knuckles working on motor cars? Even on stuff that the owner's manual tells you how to do?
Should I be speaking to a lawyer about suing FCA?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Lets see. $2500 to replace the cracked intake manifold(400+) from the Ford dealer which was only going to be replaced with another poorly designed unit, or... $249 from the aftermarket which addressed the cracking water passage and 4 hours of my time and another 50 in gaskets, misc, beer.
What the hell does a "hacker" care if there is a right to repair bill? That was the dumbest thing I have ever heard. I cant believe they went there.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Repair = lost sale
It's not just that they don't want you to repair it yourself because it would be cheaper than if a 'licenced repairshop' does the job. They don't want you to repair it at all.
They want you to buy a new one.
A repair is just a 'lost sale'...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Repair = lost sale
Unless, of course, they can make as much on repairs as they would on a new sale.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Do you want communism to win?
Your attitude has no place in an idiocracy.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hey Apple...
'Mecca For Hackers'
You spelled 'Makers' wrong.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Hey Apple...
Repairing Apple devices would seem to fall in that category. You are supposed to spring the money for a new one (whether or not Apple gives you a new one or the old one in repaired state).
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Hey Apple...
People *make* all kinds of things using other things as components.
While my Grandma could make a Raspberry Pie from scratch, my soldering skills will never make me a Raspberry Pi.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No, there really isn't. That's a bit of pointless culture-warring from the FSF over something that's already been settled in the public consciousness decades ago. A hacker is a computer criminal, and that's the only thing anyone associates with that term, outside of a very small band of folks who might as well be still fighting the Civil War for all the good it does.
Even "ethical hackers" (ie. pentesters and security researchers) are people who do the same things as hackers (break into computer systems) but with authorization or for good purposes rather than nefarious ones.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
If the majority of people don't know about a distinction, then they aren't actually distinct! Brilliant!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
If they wanted
Simply implement lifetime warranties on all their phones, for any type of damage.
Customers would be crazy to pay for fixes that Apple would deliver for free. Apple would get to feel confident that everyone with a fixed phone has a proper one.
Wait, what, you're saying the whole point is that Apple wants to charge an arm and a leg for fixing out of warranty phones??
So then this isn't about protecting customers after all is it? As I've shown Apple could to THAT very easily.....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: If they wanted
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
industry lobbyists told lawmakers in Minnesota that broken glass could cut the fingers of consumers who try to repair their screens
You want to know that last time I cut my fingers? It was when I leaned over to grab the paper that just came out of my printer. The lesson here is that only people specifically authorized by the printer company should be allowed to operate them. Otherwise people may cut their fingers.
(But seriously, cutting your fingers is the best they could come up with? Not even something serious, but your fingers?)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
"Brasch said the representatives made two other main arguments: They said repair could cause lithium batteries to catch fire, and said that there are already enough authorized places to get iPhones repaired, such as the Apple store."
So how is this different from factory defaults? We already know that the risk of batteries catching fire is not exclusive to self-repaired phones.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
California has one at the very least. And there are other states where the precedent has already been set with the right to have cars repaired anywhere the owner wishes, AND require the dealerships and mfg parent companies to furnish the diagnostic codes to 3rd party repair shops. This cannot legally void a warranty.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Whatever happened to just voiding your warranty?
Or did I not read carefully enough and this is what this legislation is trying to change?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
If Nebraska becomes a hacker mecca,
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
The last time I tried to change the air filter, the car slammed down the hood, locked itself, and the onboard computer said, in a nice female voice, "You can look, but cannot touch. For repairs, contact your local dealer. Have a nice day."
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hahahahahaha!!!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
phones and farm equipment
I predict that John Deere lobbyists will show up with pictures of severed fingers from when farmers tried to fix their own mowers.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Tie this in with typical phone warranty coverage
The indicators turn pink immediately with water, but they also turn pink from just the humidity of a being carried in a pocket for a few months.
If only Apple has the information to diagnose and repair their phones, there is no legal way to challenge their "pink means no coverage" policy. You can't have a third party repair place document that a part failed with no evidence of water damage.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
omg
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
3 - GNU/Linux
2 - Pirates
1 - Hackers
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I laughed at myself
[ link to this | view in chronology ]