Buried Apple Privacy Scandal Undermines Its Attacks On Right To Repair Legislation

from the do-as-we-say,-not-as-we-do dept

Apple has never looked kindly upon users actually repairing their own devices. The company's ham-fisted efforts to shut down, sue, or otherwise imperil third-party repair shops are legendary. As are the company's efforts to force recycling shops to shred Apple products (so they can't be refurbished and re-used). As is Apple's often comical attacks on essential right to repair legislation, which usually involves the company insisting that allowing broader independent and consumer repair of their devices would be a security and privacy nightmare.

Yeah, about that. Apple last week was revealed to have paid a multi-million dollar settlement to an Oregon woman after iPhone repair technicians uploaded explicit images and videos to the internet from a phone that she sent in for repair. In this case, the culprits were employed by one of Apple's "authorized" repair contractors, Pegatron Technology Service in California. These authorized techs then uploaded the woman's private conversations and photos to the internet, making it look as if she had done it:

"The videos were uploaded to appear as though the woman herself had shared them on purpose, according to the documents, causing the woman “severe emotional distress”. The woman was made aware of the incident when friends saw the videos and images on Facebook. The woman sued Apple and eventually settled with the company for a multi-million dollar sum. But Apple was never directly named in the lawsuit in an effort to keep the matter confidential."

The revelation comes on the heels of a previous instance where an Apple store employee did something very similar. The latest screw up, subsequent payoff, and attempt to bury the settlement rather undermines Apple's longstanding argument that its own repair process is somehow superior to independent repair shops, and that by making it easier to repair consumer devices, consumers face all manner of alleged privacy and security harm (even if a recent bipartisan FTC report found that wasn't actually true).

The inconsistency was quickly seized upon by right to repair advocates, who note that Apple has lobbied intensely against the right to repair legislation that has been proposed in more than half of states in 2021 alone. Usually using what right to repair advocates describe as the "benevolent monopoly" argument

"Paul Roberts, a Right to Repair advocate and founder of SecuRepairs.org, calls this argument the “benevolent monopoly” argument. Yes, we have taken your choices away from you, the reasoning goes, but we did it to protect you from making the wrong choice or being tricked. Science fiction author and activist Cory Doctorow describes Apple’s model as “digital feudalism,” with the company acting as “warlord,” forcing citizens to stay within its walls and to abide by its rules."

But the choice of who should repair devices consumers, John Deere tractor owners, or hospitals own shouldn't be left up to the manufacturer. Especially if that manufacturer is attempting to monopolize repair in a way that's not only harmful to customers, but the planet itself.

Filed Under: authorized repair, privacy, revenge porn, right to repair
Companies: apple

Pressured By 'Right To Repair' Movement, Apple Will Sell Parts To Independent Repair Shops

from the monopolizing-repair dept

Apple has never looked too kindly upon users actually repairing their own devices. The company's ham-fisted efforts to shut down, sue, or otherwise imperil third-party repair shops are legendary. As are the company's efforts to force recycling shops to shred Apple products (so they can't be refurbished and re-used), and Apple's often comical attacks on essential right to repair legislation, which only sprung up after companies like Apple, Microsoft, Sony, John Deere, and others created a grass-roots counter-movement via their attempts to monopolize repair.

The motivation for these behaviors is obvious: if users are repairing or recycling their iDevices, that means fewer device sales and more customers wandering outside of Apple's ecosystem. Apple routinely obfuscates this obvious self interest under claims that it's exclusively worried about consumer safety and security, like that time it claimed that Nebraska would become a "mecca for hackers" (oh no!) if the state embraced legislation protecting a consumer's right to repair their own devices.

But the right to repair movement finally appears to have driven some actual change at the company. Apple announced this week it would be providing parts to independent repair shops for the first time in the company's history, provided the repair technicians are certified. The program creates an entirely new "authorized independent repair" program, but for the moment it only applies to out-of-warranty iPhone repairs in the US, and it's not clear yet how easy it will be to gain Apple's official approval.

In a company statement, Apple implies the decision was driven by a simple concern for consumer welfare:

"To better meet our customers’ needs, we’re making it easier for independent providers across the US to tap into the same resources as our Apple Authorized Service Provider network,” said Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer. “When a repair is needed, a customer should have confidence the repair is done right. We believe the safest and most reliable repair is one handled by a trained technician using genuine parts that have been properly engineered and rigorously tested."

Apple is, of course, hoping to preempt proposed legislation in nearly 20 states that would open the flood gates to consumer and independent repair, putting an end to the company's dreams of a repair monopoly. As such, some worried that Apple was attempting to co-opt the movement by creating this new program that it still at least has some degree of control over. Others were skeptical that Apple would just reject a wide swath of applicants and make the program far more restrictive than the announcement would leave you to believe:

Still, the fact that Apple is even doing this speaks to the incredible work being done by right to repair advocates, who've increasingly been successful in pushing this subject into the mainstream. That said, given Apple's history, it makes sense to not give Apple too many pats on the back until it's clear the program isn't rife with obnoxious restrictions and caveats.

Filed Under: authorized repair, iphones, repair shops, right to repair
Companies: apple