Planned obsolescence is recognized as a global problem
Good news for all of my readers. Officially scheduled obsolescence
is no longer a conspiracy theory. It is recognized as a global problem.
On March 1, 2021, a law entered into force throughout the EU, which
guarantees buyers of equipment "the right to repair". Companies selling
refrigerators, washing machines, hair dryers, televisions, computers in
the European Union are required to guarantee repairability for 10 years.
According to official statistics in the EU, there are 16 kilograms of
electrical waste for every citizen. Only 40% of this waste is recycled.
At the same time, half of the electrical waste is household appliances.
Purposefully littering the planet is what manufacturers do. To get super
profits. What I already wrote about in the article about Commandre 64
and modern world, 6 april 2021.
In turn, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released a report
("Nixing the Fix: An FTC Report to Congress on Repair Restrictions, may
2021") on the intentional reduction by manufacturers of the maintainability
of their products. Read it. It is interesting. The report focuses on
smartphone and car manufacturers. The criminal practices described in
the report include: limited availability of spare parts and diagnostic
software, design features of products that make it difficult to repair them
unnecessarily. Also, repair requirements only in authorized services.
Previously, criminal manufacturers have claimed they have reasons to make
repairs difficult, or named that a conspiracy theories. Ostensibly independent
journalists like me create myths. Also, IT cartels talked a lot about
protecting intellectual rights, observing cybersecurity and protecting against
the risks of repairs outside of authorized service centers. However, the FTC
rejected this line of reasoning. FTC said that the manufacturers' claims were
fiction. Action data from the world's leading economies prove that planned
obsolescence, like UFOs, is no longer a conspiracy theory. This is an old
and difficult problem will to be solved.
