The argument is that by creating unnecessary waste they are imposing an externality on everyone. Why should societies that control the rules of trade within them allow a company to force extra infrastructure on everyone for safely disposing of a much higher level of waste?

I think the suggested laws to combat this would be that companies must allow users to take control of their own devices once official support is no longer available. Paying enthusiasts to create a distribution of Linux for the device would be a cheap way of ensuring your devices fit that kind of law. It's just a way of saying that devices must be reusable, even without further manufacturer support.

I had an original ipad, and it was almost unusable within a year of me buying it because of forced software upgrades it couldn't take.

There is something called society.

BTW, just because you do not use street lamps (as you use a car) means others still need sidewalk/pavement + street lamps.

I think paid it's the wrong word, but I agree that at least they should offer drivers for the hardware you own. Like if I get an AMD card, they provide drivers for Linux, and windows. At least they should for devices they don't plan on supporting anymore themselves.

A little bit idealistic, but we should make Apple accountable of their "eco friendly" image, we already have enough e-waste, to keep dumping good hardware to the trash because it not longer has support from Apple, despite working perfectly fine and safe with other OS like Linux.

I think the OP means Apple should pay because they will provide support after Apple declares EOL. And the OP argues support beyond EOL should be mandated by law.

At very least, manufacturers should be asked to unlock things and provide documentation to let the community support devices. It's incredible the amount of devices that have perfectly fine hardware but are crippled due to the lack of software updates.

Societal responsibility to reduce ewaste.

Apple devices are notoriously painful to recycle properly.