Independent repair of phones, set-top boxes, tractors, electric vehicles? In general, this is realistic, but many manufacturers put a spoke in the wheel for repair shops and owners of devices and systems. Some things are very easy to repair, but companies complicate things. An example is the Home button on an iPhone. Starting with the iPhone 5S, it seems, all buttons are connected to the motherboards by software. If the button is torn, the coating is broken, or something else happens, only Apple can cope with this problem. The user will be able to install a new button without any problems, the exact analogue of the broken one, only it will either not work at all, or some of the functions will be missing.
But the situation is even worse with game consoles. Take the PlayStation 4, for example - most Blu-Ray models have software-linked drives to the motherboard. The PS5 is the same. And if a drive breaks down, then you won't be able to change the broken one for a worker on your own - the motherboard won't "accept" the new drive. And even worse, the user not only loses the ability to play games on discs - in the vast majority of cases, the console stops working. Without a second thought, the user carries the console to the nearest repair center, where he is lowered from heaven to earth, telling the terrible truth - the console cannot be repaired. And all because of copyright, DMCA and the US Congress. But in the next couple of weeks, this situation may change - for the better for us, users, side.
A few more complaints against corporations that prohibit repairing devices purchased from them
According to statistics from a large service center Replay'd from the USA, every tenth owner of a game console complains about a failed drive. This company has tens of thousands of customers, and the basements are crammed with thousands of consoles with non-working drives, which are not a problem to fix purely mechanically, it’s a half hour business. But the problem is that this is not possible. If done legally, the repair will cost as much as a new console. It is also possible illegally , but, firstly, it does not always work out, and secondly, large companies cannot engage in flashing, etc. - otherwise, a corporation like Sony or Microsoft may sue, which will result in multimillion-dollar losses or even bankruptcy.
The problem is that console vendors want to take control of the repairs - and that brings benefits almost more than selling the devices themselves. Especially when you consider the cost of an official repair for the end user (owners of iPhone, MacBook - also warm greetings, they understand what this is about).
Actually, the problem of repairing consoles with a broken drive is not technical, but legislative. In the United States and many other countries, the law is on the side of corporations supplying consoles to the market, prohibiting third-party repair services from flashing / changing cards in drives. This can be done only at your own peril and risk, knowing that the punishment will be very heavy.
As we wrote, the problem concerns not only consoles, phones, but also tractors or electric vehicles of such a modern and "free" from corporate games company like Tesla Inc.
U.S. Congress and repair rights
How does this relate to Congress? Every three years , US congressmen decide whether to remove or maintain these restrictions for different products. By the way, the English term for restrictions is digital lock.
And just next week, representatives of Public Knowledge, Right to Repair and iFixit will try to open the "lock". Representatives of these organizations will be asked to remove software restrictions on repairs not only on the console, but also on other gadgets and systems.
Why is it so important? Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, passed by Congress in 1998, makes it illegal to “circumvent the technical means that protect access to a copyrighted work”. In the case of consoles, the copyrighted work is the optical drive firmware. It sounds strange, but in the world of lawyers, even not that can be heard / seen.
All this wealth of the gamer turns into brick if the drive for Blu-ray discs breaks down.
Manufacturers and the US Copyright Office have interpreted this provision of the law as a sign that bypassing "digital locks" on their own devices in order to fix them is a violation of the law. And the fines for violating this law are severe: fines of up to $ 150,000 and even imprisonment.
As a result, many more consoles are sent to the landfill than they are under the Christmas trees on a festive night. And drive breakdowns happen very often - threads of discussion of possible repair methods include tens of thousands of messages.
So hopefully the iFixit teammates can convince Congress to lift the restrictions on device repairs.
What are the reasons for the company's ban?
Need more gold. Vendors have two arguments. First, if you open digital locks, pirates will bring serious losses to business. On the other hand, other laws protect the industry from pirates, so there should be no problem. The second is to "prevent the creation of illegal copies." In addition, manufacturers claim that they can fix the drive for free. But in reality, desire will face the harsh reality in the event of a real need for repair. The owner of a broken console will see the expired warranty period, lack of spare parts, lack of a repair option, etc.
There are no problems - the users themselves or unauthorized repair services can do everything themselves. But for the same PS5, protection is already more serious than that of early consoles. Manufacturers are trying to complicate protection methods. If in the Xbox 360 it was enough to drill in one place and change the resistor in another , then for the Xbox One this number does not work. Modern consoles employ serious methods of verifying the authenticity of the drive hardware.
And if you swap the drives of the two brand new PS5s, then when you try to load the game from a licensed disc, a message will appear stating that it is, in fact, not supported by the console. The new Xbox is about the same situation.
As a result, the situation for the user is stalemate - corporations do not want to repair consoles, and users are prohibited from self-repair.
What's next?
In Europe, the situation is gradually changing for the better . From 2021, home appliance manufacturers will have to supply parts for their devices within 10 years of the sale. The new rules are relevant for washing machines, dishwashers, refrigerators and lighting fixtures. And manufacturers will also have to design appliances in such a way that they can be repaired without the specialized tools that the vendor provides.
EU lawmakers have not only ordered home appliance and electronics vendors to supply parts for their systems. From 2021, manufacturers are required to provide a warranty for the repair work performed, as well as give a warranty for individual parts. Plus, manufacturers will be forced to provide detailed information on the repair and maintenance of devices.
But all these are household appliances. Next week, the battle will begin for the right to repair their own consoles and other devices. The old law clearly does not fit modern life, and it is somewhat strange to protect the firmware of the drive by law, with the criminal prosecution of violators.
As a result, we get a situation when a console element, which can be replaced in a few minutes, in fact, simply does not make sense to change, since it will not work. This is an absurdity that more and more people are beginning to realize. I would like to hope that it will be possible to solve this problem by joint efforts. Let's see where the process started by iFixit and Co.
