Apple amongst companies lobbying against Right to Repair bill over privacy

The group says the bill has "the potential for troubling unintended consequences, including serious adverse security, privacy and safety risks."

What you need to know

• Apple is amongst a group of companies lobbying against a Right to Repair bill in Nevada.
• The TechNet trade group says that the bill represents a serious threat to user data and privacy.
• Apple has just expanded its Independent Repair Provider program globally.

Apple is amongst companies represented by a trade group lobbying against a Right to Repair Bill in Nevada.

From Associated Press:

Trade groups representing big tech companies clashed with independent repair shop owners in Monday committee hearing in the Nevada Legislature over a proposal to require hardware manufacturers give repair shops the means to fix devices like computers, phones, tablets and printers.

The bill in Nevada would apply to consumer electronics worth less than $5,000 wholesale, one assemblywoman saying it would protect jobs and let people get their devices repaired locally. However, a trade group by the name of TechNet which counts Apple and Hewlett-Packard amongst its members "has mounted vigorous opposition" to multiple repair bills in various state legislatures:

Cameron Demetre, the organization's regional executive director, said manufacturers worried about "unvetted third parties" having access to the personal information stored in consumer electronics. He said the bill had "the potential for troubling unintended consequences, including serious adverse security, privacy and safety risks."

It comes just a day after Apple announced it was expanding its Independent Repair Provider program globally, from that report:

Apple is expanding its Independent Repair Provider program to more than 200 countries. The program, which lets repair providers access genuine Apple parts, tools, repair manuals, and diagnostics, is already running with 1,500 providers across the United States, Canada, and Europe.

The scheme is free for a repair business to join, but they must have one Apple-certified technician on staff. In 2019 Apple told the U.S. government that the cost of providing repair services as a company had exceeded the revenue generated by repairs in each year since 2009.