The Copyright Office readopted “existing exemptions” under Digital Millennium Copyright Act Section 1201, the agency announced Wednesday with a final rule in its triennial review (see 2010150030). That included a right-to-repair exemption for smartphones and other digital devices. NTIA, in an Oct. 1 letter, recommended expanding right-to-repair exemptions for diagnosis, maintenance and repair of all software-enabled devices.

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.”

IFixit is “not mad, just disappointed,” after its iPhone 13 Pro teardown showed the smartphone got low grades for repairability, said the right-to-repair advocacy company Monday. The “bad news” is about Apple’s “newest parts-pairing problem,” it said. “If you replace your screen, Apple kills your Face ID” facial-recognition authentication feature, “unless they control the repair,” said iFixit. “We swapped sensors and front-facing camera hardware across multiple brand-new units, restarting each one, but nothing worked. Fixing your own iPhone screen could trap you years in the past, in the passcode times.” IFixit says an Apple-licensed tech told it that the iPhone maker is treating the problem as a bug “to be fixed in a future iOS release.” If Apple “withholds a major feature from anybody who doesn’t take their busted screen straight to them,” that would mark a “very, very bad sign from a company that moves the tech market,” it said. Apple didn’t comment.

Microsoft has nothing “to share at this time,” emailed a spokesperson Friday, on the As You Sow shareholder proposal filed last week urging the Microsoft board to weigh relaxing the company’s restrictions on third-party device repair (see 2106240054). The spokesperson referenced what he called a “relevant section” of Microsoft’s 2020 Environmental Sustainability Report in which it committed to reducing “as much waste as we create across our direct operations,” and becoming “zero waste” by 2030, including by making all Surface tablets and laptops “fully recyclable.” The report is silent on boosting device repairability as a means of keeping discarded electronics out of the e-waste stream. Microsoft “actively restricts consumer access to device repairability, undermining our sustainability commitments,” said the As You Sow proposal.

As You Sow filed a Microsoft shareholder proposal urging the board to “analyze the environmental and social benefits of making its devices more easily repairable through measures such as the public provision of tools, parts, and repair instructions,” said the green group Thursday. “Repairability is a key tenet of a circular economy, wherein the traditional take-make-dispose model is disrupted, new resource extraction is minimized, and existing resources are kept in perpetual use.” Microsoft "makes its devices exclusively repairable at selective authorized repair shops," a practice the FTC decided last month had scant evidence to justify (see 2105070013), said the group. The company “actively restricts consumer access to device repairability, undermining our sustainability commitments by failing to recognize a fundamental principle of electronics sustainability: that overall device environmental impact is principally determined by the length of its useful lifetime,” said the proposal. Microsoft customarily holds its annual meetings in early December, where a shareholder vote on the proposal would take place if the board lets the item on the agenda. The company didn’t comment.

Advocates of third-party independent device repairs hailed Thursday’s congressional introduction of what they called the first "broad" federal right-to-repair legislation. The Fair Repair Act, sponsored by Rep. Joseph Morelle, D-N.Y., would require tech manufacturers to give device owners and independent repair shops access to parts, tools and information they need for fixes. “Electronics manufacturers have locked down our tech,” said iFixit. “Big tech companies shouldn’t get to dictate how we use the things we own or keep us from fixing our stuff.” Consumer Reports almost immediately endorsed the legislation, saying it “would ensure that consumers have real choices for fixing the devices they own,” saving them money and preventing waste from devices that need to be discarded if not fixed. IFixit isn't aware of any right-to-repair "movement" in the Senate, said Policy Lead Kerry Sheehan. Right-to-repair opponent CTA didn’t comment.

Right-to-repair advocates called New York Senate passage Thursday of the Digital Fair Repair Act (S-4104) the first measure dedicated to consumer tech repair to clear any state's chamber. Though a matching Assembly bill failed to clear committee on the last day of the legislature’s 2021 session, the Senate's 51-12 bipartisan OK “speaks to the support right to repair gets when it receives a fair vote, against tech lobbyists’ wishes,” emailed Kerry Sheehan, iFixit U.S. policy lead. S-4104 would prohibit consumer tech OEMs from withholding diagnostics and other repair materials from consumers or service shops. Last month’s FTC report saying OEM restrictions on independent third-party repairs harmed consumer protections in the 1975 Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act (see 2105070013) “is a huge help across the board in helping lawmakers understand how baseless opposition arguments against right to repair really are,” Sheehan told us. “We'll continue to see it as an extremely useful resource for educating lawmakers.” Advocates are unfazed by a matching Assembly bill's failure to clear committee, she said: “Some opposition lobbyists were able to convince Assembly leadership not to bring the bill forward for a floor vote this year." Backers in the Assembly have "a dedicated bill sponsor" in Patricia Fahy (D), "who is committed to moving right to repair forward,” said Sheehan. Right to repair was one of Fahy's top priorities for the end of the legislative session, emailed a spokesperson Friday. Fahy's office hosted two town halls and "created a coalition bigger than any existing one," including 30 Assembly co-sponsors, he said. "We are extremely frustrated with the lack of movement we’ve received based on the support and work put into it." The tech industry "will likely be back bigger and stronger next year" to oppose a measure in the Assembly, "so we’re already planning how to keep the issue alive in the off-session and build even more momentum surrounding it next session," he said. CTA didn't comment.

Virtually all tech associations and companies, except for TechNet, maintained silence days after the FTC’s long-awaited “Nixing the Fix” report found “scant evidence” supporting OEMs’ “justifications” for restricting third-party and independent repairs (see 2105070013). Right-to-repair advocates were jubilant after the FTC 4-0 said it would consider “reinvigorated regulatory and law enforcement options” to address the problem. “It was worth the wait,” said iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens of the two-year FTC investigation into repair restrictions that began with an April 2019 notice of inquiry (see 1905160073) and a July 2019 daylong workshop (see 1907160058). The report “systematically demolishes” the OEMs’ case for disallowing device consumer self-repairs or fixes done through technicians who are independent of factory-authorized service networks, Wiens told us Friday. “I feel like we've been trapped in 'Groundhog Day' dealing with the same tired arguments over and over. No, repairing your battery isn't going to undermine the cybersecurity of an iPhone.” Wiens expects the report “should finally break us loose of that cycle,” he said. “I'm hopeful this will unleash a wave of pent-up legislation.”

An FTC spokesperson declined comment Monday about a “landmark report” right-to-repair advocates said the agency is preparing for imminent release after its two-year investigation into how manufacturer restrictions on third-party repairs can affect 1975 Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act consumer protections. The FTC convened a July 2019 “Nixing the Fix” workshop to probe manufacturer third-party repair practices and their consumer impact (see 1907160058). The Electronic Frontier Foundation, iFixit, Repair Association and U.S. Public Interest Research Group and others had scheduled a Monday afternoon Zoom call with reporters to discuss the agency’s findings. They rescheduled it for 3 p.m. EDT Tuesday after learning the FTC “is delayed in releasing their report,” said Kerry Sheehan, iFixit U.S. policy lead.

Brightstar is teaming with MasTec to bring smartphone and tablet repair to 85% of the U.S. population, said the companies Tuesday. This leverages Brightstar’s repair expertise with MasTec’s vans and SmartConnect service technicians. Brightstar reaches 94% of the U.K. population with its WeFix-branded smartphone and tablet repair. The companies vow to prioritize customer health and safety during the pandemic, promising “no contact between customers and technicians and that all devices are thoroughly sanitized before they are returned.”