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California Becomes 18th State To Consider Right To Repair Legislation (vice.com)

Jason Koebler shares a report from Motherboard: The right to repair battle has come to Silicon Valley's home state: Wednesday, a state assembly member announced that California would become the 18th state in the country to consider legislation that would make it easier to repair your electronics. "The Right to Repair Act will provide consumers with the freedom to have their electronic products and appliances fixed by a repair shop or service provider of their choice, a practice that was taken for granted a generation ago but is now becoming increasingly rare in a world of planned obsolescence," Susan Talamantes Engman, a Democrat from Stockton who introduced the bill, said in a statement. The announcement had been rumored for about a week but became official Wednesday. The bill would require electronics manufacturers to make repair guides and repair parts available to the public and independent repair professionals and would also would make diagnostic software and tools that are available to authorized and first-party repair technicians available to independent companies.

12 of 96 comments (clear)

  1. Re:can they repair their state first? by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 2

    California is a lovely place to live outside of LA and Silicon Valley. Plenty of nice places that aren't out in the desert. High (progressive) income tax + low (regressive) real estate taxes are actually a good thing.

    And as goes CA, goes the country -- hope this one passes.

  2. Re:Horrible idea.. by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 2

    Simple -- tax anything that has a built-in non-servicable LiIon battery 50%. A LiIon battery that's user-replaceable by design represents a minimal danger. Built-in batteries are a big scam to make sure that people throw their devices away when they lose capacity.

  3. But still screw 'em the old way by BrianMarshall · · Score: 2

    ...and would also would make diagnostic software and tools that are available to authorized and first-party repair technicians available to independent companies.

    Can't have mere users having diagnostic tools... they might find that they can repair the thing without paying a repair technician.

    --
    "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro" -- HST
    1. Re:But still screw 'em the old way by rtb61 · · Score: 2

      How about source code, the right to repaid the broken arse POS Windows anal probe 10 and get rid of the privacy invasive shit and permanently block the cunts at M$ from installing software on your property, your digital life, those fucking sickening scum, the filth right out of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty Four, their ideas are as sick as fuck.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  4. Can I ... by PPH · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... order some parts to fix my AR-15? The full auto mode is inoperative.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  5. Nope by Okian+Warrior · · Score: 2, Interesting

    ... order some parts to fix my AR-15? The full auto mode is inoperative.

    Your AR-15 doesn't have a full auto mode.

    You can modify an AR-15 to be full auto, but it's tricky and probably won't work. The AR-15 tends to jam when fired at full-auto rates.

    Also, such modifications are illegal.

    What you *can* do is modify a liberal so that they know what they're talking about when it comes to guns.

    That's also tricky and probably won't work, but it's not illegal.

  6. Re:can they repair their state first? by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2, Funny

    Low taxes and a healthy FU to the gov't works best.

    I'd tell you to enjoy Kentucky, but I see that they just outlawed child brides. More big government overreach, amirite? Maybe Alabama will be more to your liking.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  7. Re:can they repair their state first? by BlueStrat · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Low taxes and a healthy FU to the gov't works best.

    I'd tell you to enjoy Kentucky, but I see that they just outlawed child brides. More big government overreach, amirite? Maybe Alabama will be more to your liking.

    Come now, that's not fair. People in different regions of this huge nation are...different. Doesn't make them bad. Honestly, the overwhelming majority of people in the US agree on basic principles we simply disagree on what & how to do or not do in our going about exercising and upholding them.

    Don't allow demographic/ethnic/racial/religious/party group identities lead you to believe in absolutes and generalities when it comes to discussing issues with people you may not generally agree with politically. That goes for all sides. If roughly half the population is "the Enemy", where does that leave us? Camps? Pogroms?

    You and I are generally far apart politically, yet I'm here to say I agree with and support this proposed Act by the Democrats in California and hope similar legislation is passed in other States.

    Don't worry too much about politics as politics is fleeting and mostly just a show for the masses like professional wrestling or the ancient Roman Circuses.

    It's principles that really count, the good news being that most of us share far, far more principles than we differ on.

    Strat

    --
    Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
  8. Re:can they repair their state first? by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 2

    says the AC too ashamed to use a real account?

    no details, either? just a shitpost and an exit.

    not even sure why we reply to AC's. and not sure why his was voted up. it was as content-free as it gets.

    I live here in cali and while its not perfect, its heaven for hardware types like myself, who also do software for their day-jobs. just come visit HALTED electronics (well known in the bay area) and go show me other places that have this kind of surplus gear for sale. there are places in the US who have stores like this, but this is just one of many in the bay area (the first one that comes to mind).

    the traffic is worse in the north east (where I spent a lot of my youth) and the brutal weather back east is nothing I want to see, ever again.

    food is great out here, we're not all one culture, the only down-side other than house prices is the ageism in hiring. once over 40, its hard to find and keep tech jobs.

    but that's the only real down-side.

    AC's can shitpost all they want, but they are just showing how jealous they are, really.

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    --
    "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
  9. Re:YES! I strongly support this, but.. by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 2

    what a stupid and partial argument.

    so, when one cap blows inside (mostly it IS caps, from china, the fake ones that have electrolyte that lasts one year+one week) you want to throw the whole thing away because 'big chips' scare you?

    get out of the way, adults are here and we want to do real work. you should go to your room and let the adults talk.

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    --
    "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
  10. Batteries by nightfire-unique · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Please, please, please make it illegal to manufacture or offer for sale any device into which a battery has been glued.

    Single issue vote from me. e-waste ain't no laughin' matter, yo.

    --
    A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
  11. Re:can they repair their state first? by BlueStrat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Your statement would be more convincing if your signature line didn't accuse all liberals of wanting a police state.

    This needs to be addressed first.

    My sig refers to ideas and ideology, not people. That's a large part of why there's such a disconnect. Nazis of the 19030s/40s are bad, but the German people are and were not bad, it's the Nazi ideas that are bad. Calling those ideas out as bad is not saying the German people are bad. Same thing here. I'm criticizing a set of ideas, not people.

    We need to be able to discuss ideas calmly and logically or there is no hope of maintaining a stable nation.

    Come now, that's not fair. People in different regions of this huge nation are...different.

    That's true. Some regions like to marry 13 year-olds and some vote Democratic.

    And in California men marry men and women marry women which is just as strange to them. Again, you attack some mythical group that somehow all believe in lockstep when that's not true of either Left- or Right-leaning people in the US, and somehow also believe your ideas are superior by default. That just works to stop people listening to what those who may disagree are actually saying. It doesn't help solve anything and only makes things worse.

    Besides, that's not really fair as few places still have laws allowing marriage that young, and many are old laws left over from as far back as the Reconstruction era. The States you referenced were also States for many decades prior to many of the more liberal Western States and so those much more recent States started out with more-current laws and customs.

    Can't we find things, like this proposed Act where we share common ground, that we can come together on and stop demonizing each other on and trying to "win" by any means, even destroying innocent people's lives? It's either that or eventually we end up in a place where there are internment camps and mass graves.

    Strat

    --
    Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.