<story><title>British right to repair law excludes smartphones and computers</title><url>https://9to5mac.com/2021/07/01/british-right-to-repair-law/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>cunidev</author><text>Not even mentioning the hardware bits, I have been collaborating with postmarketOS for a while now, and believe that the main thing we need to make those devices longer-lasting would be an unlockable bootloader by law.&lt;p&gt;This sounds so logical (why cannot I run, by voiding the warranty, any code I want on my machine, whatever it is?), yet apparently so hard to make openly illegal, since the problem is barely acknowledged in general.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>bluescrn</author><text>User-replaceable batteries by law might be a better first step. Heck, maybe even some standard sizes for mobile device batteries (and while we&amp;#x27;re at it, also EV batteries... some sort of standard &amp;#x27;battery module&amp;#x27; used by most&amp;#x2F;all vehicles would hugely help reuse&amp;#x2F;repair&amp;#x2F;recycling&amp;#x2F;upgrades).</text></comment>
<story><title>British right to repair law excludes smartphones and computers</title><url>https://9to5mac.com/2021/07/01/british-right-to-repair-law/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>cunidev</author><text>Not even mentioning the hardware bits, I have been collaborating with postmarketOS for a while now, and believe that the main thing we need to make those devices longer-lasting would be an unlockable bootloader by law.&lt;p&gt;This sounds so logical (why cannot I run, by voiding the warranty, any code I want on my machine, whatever it is?), yet apparently so hard to make openly illegal, since the problem is barely acknowledged in general.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>celestialcheese</author><text>In the US, at least, unlocking devices is legal as of 2015(?) through DMCA exemptions, which has been huge for recyclers and refurbishers.&lt;p&gt;Still couldn&amp;#x27;t get game console unlocking through, but at least phones &amp;#x2F; tablets &amp;#x2F; other devices that are locked can be unlocked and resold.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;resource-recycling.com&amp;#x2F;e-scrap&amp;#x2F;2018&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;01&amp;#x2F;digital-device-unlocking-allowances-renewed&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;resource-recycling.com&amp;#x2F;e-scrap&amp;#x2F;2018&amp;#x2F;11&amp;#x2F;01&amp;#x2F;digital-de...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>