IFixit Vows to Hold Microsoft Accountable for Easing Repair Restrictions

Microsoft’s agreement with the green group As You Sow to expand consumers’ options to repair their own devices by the end of 2022 (see 2110070030 or 2110070032) “is a step in the right direction for a major tech company,” emailed iFixit Policy Director Kerry Sheehan Thursday: “We'll be keeping a close eye on Microsoft to make sure they're living up to their commitments.” IFixit and other advocates also hope Microsoft will take a “less-aggressive” lobbying stance against right to repair legislation, said Sheehan. A Microsoft spokesperson declined comment Friday. Product designs “that may appear to limit self-repair” shouldn't be “assumed to be harmful to consumers,” commented Microsoft in the FTC’s “Nixing the Fix” proceeding two years ago (see 1906030005). The agency unanimously approved a policy statement July 21 aimed at bolstering consumers’ rights to self-repair and access to third-party independent repairs by vowing to crack down on manufacturers whose restrictions are deemed to violate antitrust or consumer protection laws (see 2107210061). President Joe Biden’s July 9 executive order on tech competition “encouraged” the FTC to use its “statutory rulemaking authority” to thwart “unfair anticompetitive restrictions on third-party repair or self-repair.”