Category: Consumer Rights | Page 7

Even though some manufacturers try to undermine them at every turn, you have certain freedoms, and we’re here to fight for them. Let’s break some warranties.

Consumer Rights

Copyright, the Internet of Things, and the End of Ownership

People don’t want to own anything anymore. They much prefer licenses that let them use it. At least that’s what lawyers from The Software Alliance and the Motion Picture Association…

June 9, 2016

by Kyle Wiens - iFixit

Consumer Rights

John Deere Responds to Copyright Mess It Made

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article for Wired criticizing John Deere’s assertion that farmers shouldn’t be allowed to access the programming in their own tractors—not even for the…

May 13, 2015

by Kyle Wiens - iFixit

Consumer Rights

We Can’t Let John Deere Destroy the Very Idea of Ownership

It's official: John Deere and General Motors want to eviscerate the notion of ownership. Sure, we pay for their vehicles. But we don’t own them. In a particularly spectacular display…

April 21, 2015

by Kyle Wiens - iFixit

Consumer Rights

It Should Not Be Illegal to Hack Your Car’s Computer

Cars have a profound legacy of tinkering. Hobbyists have always modded them, rearranged their guts, and reframed their exteriors. Which is why it’s mind-boggling to me that the Electronic Frontier…

January 23, 2015

by Kyle Wiens - iFixit

Consumer Rights

DRM Kitty Litter: The Only Thing Stupider Than DRM Coffee

Earlier this year, we told you about Keurig’s attempt to quash off-brand coffee by integrating DRM into its newest model of brewing machine. At the time, we thought that coffee…

December 30, 2014

by Julia Bluff

Consumer Rights

Copyright Is Screwing Over Blind People and Taking Their Right to Read

For more than a decade, the visually-impaired have been locked in an excruciatingly slow and circuitous battle against US copyright laws. And it’s left the visually-impaired with few options but…

December 18, 2014

by Kyle Wiens - iFixit

Consumer Rights

Why Cellphone Unlocking Could Soon Be Illegal Once Again

In August, President Obama signed the Unlocking Consumer Choice and Wireless Competition Act, a law ensuring that US companies and consumers have the right to unlock their own cellphones. Now,…

December 9, 2014

by Kyle Wiens - iFixit

Consumer Rights

You Gotta Fight For Your Right to Repair Your Car

Fixing modern cars requires special diagnostic tools and official service information—information that some manufacturers don’t share with independent technicians. But all that is changing. Automotive Right to Repair just became…

February 13, 2014

by Kyle Wiens - iFixit

Consumer Rights

The End of Ownership Rights: Why You Need to Fight America’s Copyright Laws

When you purchase a physical object, you don’t actually buy the software in it — that code belongs to someone else. If you do something the manufacturer doesn’t like —…

January 17, 2014

by Kyle Wiens - iFixit

Consumer Rights

Why You Should Care about Cell Phone Unlocking

Yesterday, TechNews Daily ran an article insisting "you don't need Congress to unlock your phone." Their reasoning: "You can unlock your phone today, illegally, and feel confident you won't end…

May 22, 2013

by Julia Bluff