Apple is reportedly lobbying against a bill that could make it easier, and perhaps even cheaper, to fix smartphones.
Nebraska legislators on Thursday afternoon pondered a “right to repair” bill that would force electronics manufacturers to provide manuals and diagnostic tools to third-parties that would fix damaged or broken devices, according to BuzzFeed News. In an interview with BuzzFeed News, however, the bill’s sponsor, State Senator Lydia Brasch said that Apple is actively lobbying Nebraska lawmakers and others around the U.S. To thwart the measure.
Brasch said that she met with an Apple (AAPL) representative, who feared that the bill’s passing would turn Nebraska into a “Mecca for bad actors.” The Apple representative added, however, that if she dropped smartphones from the bill, Apple wouldn’t stand in its way.
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Several states—including New York, Illinois, and Massachusetts—have floated similar legislation. The laws, if passed, are aimed at forcing product manufacturers to make it easier for consumers to find third-party repair shops and get their products fixed effectively and, in some cases, at a lower cost.
The bills have been met with concerns from product manufacturers who worry that offering up product manuals and diagnostic tools could expose critical trade secrets and ultimately put their businesses at risk. They also fear that consumers will get unsafe components.
In the conversation with Brasch, the Apple representative reportedly said Apple was concerned about hackers who might take advantage of the additional access to its products.
Apple, like many other prominent product manufacturers, generates significant revenue each year on device repairs and especially smartphone repairs. If Apple is forced to hand over special tools that would allow third-party companies to fix its devices, it could stand to lose at least some of that revenue. Apple does, however, work with authorized service partners that it allows to fix its devices.
“Some of us believe that this practice is monopolistic,” New York State Senator Phil Boyle told BuzzFeed News. “If I buy a computer, they are almost requiring me to go back to the facility to get it fixed at an inflated rate.”
Boyle added that he introduced right to repair legislation in New York in 2014. Tech companies, including Apple, ultimately lobbied against the bil,l and it never went to a vote. Other efforts to expand right to repair to electronics makers have similarly been flat-lined in states across the United States.
The Nebraska bill seems to have met the same fate. On Thursday, the Nebraska Judiciary Committee decided to shelve the right to repair bill until at least next year.
Apple did not immediately respond to a Coins2Day request for comment.
