Right-to-Repair Advocates Say Microsoft Wrongly Told FTC It Doesn't Impede 3rd Party Repair
Microsoft disingenuously told the FTC products that appear to impede self-repair are pro-consumer, emailed two right-to-repair advocates rebutting Microsoft’s filing (see 1906030020) posted May 31 in the “Nixing the Fix” docket. Microsoft “would like to avoid being told to stop…
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using adhesives in their products despite the consequences of producing products that cannot be repaired,” said Repair Association Executive Director Gay Gordon-Byrne and CEO Kyle Wiens of iFixit, one of Byrne’s charter members. Using adhesives and “pouch batteries” in a device are “lower cost manufacturing techniques,” Byrne and Wiens emailed us last week. "These types of products cannot last longer than the least durable component, and batteries have known limitations on charge cycles.” Self-repair doesn't hurt innovation as the software maker claims, said the advocates. “If adhesives were to be banned, future IoT products would be assembled with the potential for repair on a level playing field at comparable costs to all OEMs." The company didn’t comment Friday. The FTC plans a July 16 workshop.