It's About Time...

In September of 2019, tech repair advocates banded together to fight for the Right to Repair movement in Washington D.C.; two years later, we finally have an updated report from the Federal Trade Commission. 

The report from the FTC confirms that anti-repair actions by large companies are hurting small businesses, undermining your ownership rights, and hurting the planet. While this isn't news to us, this confirms the imbalance in the market.

The FTC’s long-awaited report provides a thorough analysis of broad market failures, and recommendations for government action to address those failures. Some major findings included in the report:

• Warranties are being routinely voided, in violation of the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act. “The Commission takes these allegations seriously and will continue to address illegal practices in the marketplace.”
• “[T]he burden of repair restrictions may fall more heavily on communities of color and lower-income communities.”
• “The pandemic has exacerbated the effects of repair restrictions on consumers.”

“This is a great step in the right direction,” said iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens. “The bi-partisan report shows that FTC knows that the market has not regulated itself, and is committing to real action.”

To read more about the FTC's report, please visit the iFixit website for a detailed analysis. You can also see Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit, in our documentary, Silicon Mountain!

[This information was originally posted on the iFixit website.]