These Chromebooks are unlockable. Go ahead and keep using them with Linux forever, they are not e-waste. The real planned obsolescence issue is hardware that can't be unlocked, like iPads.
This address two problems: device obsolescence and control over ones own device. I’m not particularly sympathetic to the idea of forcing Apple to drastically change iOS via legislation. However, it should be possible to install Android on iDevices for those who want a different privacy/control tradeoff than what Apple provides with iOS
I develop for embedded devices and I don't see this working as intended.
Embedded devices often have secure boot efuses burned during manufacturing. There's no way to reverse that later or install your own cert.
Datasheets and SDKs for the chips are behind expensive support contracts and onerous NDAs.
Industry and middleware vendors are absolutely opposed to giving away anything, even though many of them fork existing FOSS projects for their SDKs.
We already have mechanisms to obtain source code, and yet there's no effective enforcement mechanism for companies that ignore GPL requests.
I agree that more needs to be done to prevent planned obsolescence, but I do not believe lawmakers have the technical knowledge to write anything effective.
I mean, "industry and vendors" were also opposed to everything from the 40h week to pollution filters. That's why they are laws: because otherwise money trumps the common good.
It's absolutely doable and enforceable that any consumer device sold in a given market should be repurposeable after, say, a period of 5 to 10 years from the end of its manifacturing run. On expiration of such window, schematics, software, and keys, should be provided to some central state-run repository. If a company is sold, acquirers should inherit all obligations, hence improving the situation with "lost" IP as a side-effect.
It would be the hardware equivalent of patent expiration.
But why a fixed year range? ;-)
Make it "as soon as EOL, and at least 5y"
That will put some incentives of longer support, as otherwise everything will be released immediately.
What I described is, after all, how desktop computers work. I can buy off the shelf components, assemble them, and install a variety of Linux distros or Windows. I don't quite understand why the same thing wouldn't be possible on mobile devices.
If I'm not mistaken, that's _exactly_ what G is doing with the Chromebooks.
True, but almost no one does this (Google/Chromebooks being an exception).
It would be a hugely positive step if manufacturers were required to ship/escrow/provide an unlocked bootloader to sell their products.
Unfortunately, that isn't the case today and it's only through goodwill that this is possible.