One man’s “crusade” against poor quality USB Type-C cables and adapters being sold online has finally yielded a result. Amazon has apparently changed their “prohibited listings” for electronics which now includes “Any USB-C™ (or USB Type-C™) cable or adapter product that is not compliant with standard specifications issued by “USB Implementers Forum Inc.” This means that anyone selling sub-par accessories of this sort will not be allowed to be sold on the e-retailer site anymore.
Okay, we can’t really call what Benson Leung did as a crusade, but more like a goal of testing out all the available USB Type-C cables that are being sold online to see if they are meeting the standards that have been set by the USB Implementers Forum Inc. But in the course of doing so, his Chromebook was damaged by the Surjtech 3M USB A-to-C cable that he was testing.
Of course that particular cable has since then been pulled from Amazon after it was discovered it only had four of nine wires that are needed to be able to be USB 3.1 compliant. This miswiring became the reason for the damage to Leung’s Chromebook and so Amazon paid attention to the complaint.
This only underscores the importance of making sure that your cable is up to standard and also calling out products being sold online that are not legit or may cause damage to your devices. Now as to how Amazon will be implementing this, that is the question.
VIA: +BensonLeung, SlashGear
