DURING AN OPEN commission meeting Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission voted unanimously to enforce laws around the Right to Repair, thereby ensuring that US consumers will be able to repair their own electronic and automotive devices.
The FTC’s endorsement of the rules is not a surprise outcome; the issue of Right to Repair has been a remarkably bipartisan one, and the FTC itself issued a lengthy report in May that blasted manufacturers for restricting repairs. But the 5 to 0 vote signals the commission’s commitment to enforce both federal antitrust laws and a key law around consumer warranties—the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act—when it comes to personal device repairs.
The vote, which was led by new FTC chair and known tech critic Lina Khan, also comes 12 days after President Joe Biden signed a broad executive order aimed at promoting competition in the US economy. The order addressed a wide range of industries, from banks to airlines to tech companies. But a portion of it encouraged the FTC, which operates as an independent agency, to create new rules that would prevent companies from restricting repair options for consumers.
HOLY
SHIT
?!?!?!?!?!
Literally every single warranty I have ever read says “lol void if u tamper w/ this shit”
And you’re telling me that’s a rule violation the manufacturer can be reported for?!?!
[Image ID: a screenshot of a portion of text from the article linked in the first post that reads “the FTC is so encouraging the public to report warrant abuse–as defined by the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act of 1975, which prohibits manufacturers from telling consumers that a warranty is voided if the product has been altered or tampered with in someone other than the original manufacturer.” The text from “which prohibits” through to the end is underlined with red. End ID]
Yep! Those “warranty void if removed” stickers are not legally enforceable in the US. Companies still put them on because unfortunately most people don’t know about this. Best advice I ever heard for if you need to return a product that you’ve removed the stickers from:
Persistently insist that the stickers never were there. Act confused if you’re asked. You got the product like this, sticker-free. The eye of the law doesn’t see the stickers, so you didn’t either.