Last year, Apple acknowledged that it was using software updates to slow down batteries in its iPhones. And a French consumer group with just one employee and 20 volunteers is now taking on the tech giant by using a landmark French legislation
Sued for slowing down batteries
Two weeks back, prosecutors in Paris announced that they had opened a probe into suspected fraud by Apple, acting on a complaint by the group Stop Planned Obsolescence. The group, known by its French initials HOP is using a French legislation that makes it a criminal offence to deliberately cut short the life of a product
Printer maker also under scanner
Just few days ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook said that they would soon be rolling out a software update for iPhones that would give customers a chance to opt out of the intentional slowdown. The probe follows a separate one launched into Epson which will look into whether the Japanese printer maker forces consumers to buy new ink cartridges before the old ones are empty, according to AFP
Only law in the world banning ‘planned obsolescence’
France is thought to be the only country in the world to have passed legislation banning planned obsolescence via a 2015 law named after former education minister Benoit Hamon. If charges are proved, a company can be fined up to five per cent of annual sales while its executives will face up to two years in jail. HOP is using the law to encourage manufacturers and consumers to repair their devices rather than throw them away
Technology and consumer goods have long been suspected of building in the expiry of their products so that consumers will be forced to replace them. This so-called “planned obsolescence” is decried by consumer groups as unethical and the cause of mountains of unrecyclable waste each year, but experts warn it is very difficult to prove