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Two simple way to reduce the likelihood of semiconductor shortages *and* reduce the volume of e-waste we have to deal with.
1) Oblige vendors to guarantee N years of useful life for electronic goods, and advertise price-per-year of life alongside purchase price. This could reduce the wastage of semiconductors in disposable electronics, and help people avoid being ripped off by the designer landfill that's misleadingly marketed as being cheaper.
2) Stop using semiconductors in things that don't need to be computerised. Simple technologies are more durable, and easier to repair at home. They're also more likely to be repairable by a local repair cafe or business.
@strypey This'll give rise to the same asshattery found in building companies, whereby it seems your guarantee is backed by Yeehaw Roofing 2015 Ltd., not Yehaw Roofers 2022 Ltd. which was dissolved three years ago and is a completely different company Guv.
@vik
I take your point. But even accepting that it's possible, it's an argument from edge cases. Most electronic retail doesn't work the way the building trade works.
Also, advertising a device with a 2 year useful life as having a 5 year useful life is a pretty clearcut case of false advertising. NZ has laws against that, and AFAIK those laws remain enforceable, regardless of how many off-the-shelf companies the guilty parties might start or wind up.
@strypey Edge case? Loophole? What's the difference, and does anyone in it for a profit care?
@vik I'm honestly not sure what point you are trying to make here.
@strypey Profit is an overriding factor for everything short of the laws o' physics.
@vik
> Profit is an overriding factor for everything short of the laws o' physics
Agreed, which is why regulation needs to be a thing. Eg obliging electronics vendors to advertise prices per year of useful life, rather than just the ticket price. Still not sure why you seem to be so opposed to this you dismiss it out of hand.
@strypey
Sorry, not sure how to express it any better.
@vik
OK, let me try to repeat your argument back to you, to see if I'm understanding it.
Because retailers can only guess at the minimum useful life of a device, advertised guarantees of that would have to be made by electronics manufacturers themselves.
You're arguing that those manufacturers would adopt a business practice of winding up their legal entities every few years, and transferring their assets to new ones, to avoid legal accountability for overblown claims of useful life.
Yes?
@strypey
Almost. They'd mostly do it to avoid potential liability rather than because of deliberate misrepresentation (though it's pretty certain some would do that).
@vik
This seems like a lot of work. Two questions.
1) Why do you think electronics manufacturers would be so unwilling to make useful life claims they can back?
2) Even if some companies did go to the trouble of playing shell company games, to avoid backing their useful life claims, wouldn't that give a free competitive advantage to the ethical hardware companies who wouldn't? I'm thinking of FrameWork, ThinkPenguin, System76, Vikings, FairPhone, Purism, Pine64 etc.
@vik
Bonus question; do you think builders were winding up their companies and starting new ones specifically to avoid standing behind their work? Or was that just a side effect of the dysfunctional structure of the NZ construction industry driving huge numbers of building companies to the wall, and not just small ones (think Mainzeal).
I’m going to fly into this thread after only having skimmed it.
LG sells a television in several countries. The exact same piece of plastic and silicon and glass.
In Aotearoa NZ it has a 12 month warranty.
In Australia it has a 24 month warranty.
In Singapore it has a 3 year warranty, which is a minimum you’d expect from a TV.
What’s the difference? The air? If anything it’s worse. Difference is legislation saying that it must last longer. LG can get away with 12mo here.
I took that LG television in my Ute down to the refuse transfer and paid $20 to add it to the growing pile of landfill.
In Singapore I would have caught the MRT to the repair center and waited for them to switch out the faulty part or give me a replacement at their own expense.
It was also a nuisance because I’d bought that TV after budgeting that I’d own it for 5 years and not have it fizzle out after 20 months or so.