WHOSE PHONE IS IT, ANYWAY? Australia slams Apple for telling customers ‘you’re repairing it wrong’

An error message that bricks iPhones when it detects that a repair is made by an independent repair shop. We saw the problem flare up in the U.S. last year. The simplest explanation is that the device would recognize if it had been tampered with and then cease to function.

[ To comment on this story, visit Computerworld’s Facebook page. ]
Apple tried to say this was a security procedure designed to stop people undermining device security, but it later relaxed its so-called security check and people stopped complaining about it.

That should have been the end of the story, but the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is taking Apple to the courts, as it claims the company has “routinely” refused to repair devices that had previously been repaired by an independent repair specialist.

“Right to Repair” is an idea whose time has come.