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California Reintroduces 'Right To Repair' Bill After Previous Effort Failed (appleinsider.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Apple Insider: California State Assembly member Susan Talamantes Eggman on Monday announced the introduction of Assembly Bill 1163, which will require manufacturers like Apple to "make service literature and equipment or parts available to product owners and to regulated, independent repair shops." "For nearly 30 years California has required that manufacturers provide access to replacement parts and service materials for electronics and appliances to authorized repairers in the state. In that time, manufacturers have captured the market, controlling where and when we repair our property, and inflating the electronic waste stream," Eggman said. "The Right to Repair will provide consumers with the freedom to have their electronic products and appliances fixed by a repair shop or service provider of their choice, creating a competitive market that will be cheaper for consumers and reduce the number of devices thrown in the trash."
The bill, officially filed as legislation relating to electronic waste, is Eggman's second try at right to repair legislation. Her first attempt, 2018's Bill 2110, was introduced last March and subsequently died in assembly that November. Like the pending Bill 1163, last year's tendered legislation was crafted as a play to reduce e-waste. Eggman's announcement includes a word-for-word reproduction of an explainer included in 2018's press release for the now-dead Bill 2110. In it the lawmaker argues that customers who are unable to pay for manufacturer repairs are forced to replace broken equipment like smartphones, TVs and home appliances. Beyond financial benefits, Eggman also says that the repair and reuse of electronics is more efficient than purchasing a new device, noting that such measures can "stimulate local economies instead of unsustainable overseas factories."
The bill, officially filed as legislation relating to electronic waste, is Eggman's second try at right to repair legislation. Her first attempt, 2018's Bill 2110, was introduced last March and subsequently died in assembly that November. Like the pending Bill 1163, last year's tendered legislation was crafted as a play to reduce e-waste. Eggman's announcement includes a word-for-word reproduction of an explainer included in 2018's press release for the now-dead Bill 2110. In it the lawmaker argues that customers who are unable to pay for manufacturer repairs are forced to replace broken equipment like smartphones, TVs and home appliances. Beyond financial benefits, Eggman also says that the repair and reuse of electronics is more efficient than purchasing a new device, noting that such measures can "stimulate local economies instead of unsustainable overseas factories."
Call me old-fashioned, but it will always be: Susan Talamantes Robotnik.
Circumcision is child abuse.
Apple and others (John Deere, to pick another industry) consistently lobby against right-to-repair laws. I've heard plenty of arguments in favor of RTR, but I've rarely heard a credible argument against. Is there a reason, outside of greed, that we shouldn't be able to have access to documentation and parts for devices we own?
I have an HP laptop that's getting on in years, and the wifi has developed an intermittent fault. On HP's site, I downloaded a tech/repair manual for the thing that includes the part number for the wifi card. It's trivial for me to buy a new one and install it. What is it about Apple's gadgets that forbids mere mortals from looking inside?
Why?
Two rules are critical:
1. Wear items, such as batteries, must be easily user-removable and replaceable. Exceptions for certain types of medical and human interface devices, or where the device's primary function is as a battery (ie. power banks).
2. Superuser privileges on personal and mobile computing devices must be made available at time of purchase. If there is a means of escalating privilege (ie. sideloading, rooting, firmware flashing, oem unlock, etc.) and it's not limited by FCC compliance, it must be available, or the device cannot be legally sold or imported for resale.
A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
Not only should root access/firmware flashing (or equivalent) be mandatory as terms of sale on all general/mobile computing devices, it should be a criminal offense to offer functionality to non-rooted devices that is not also available to rooted devices.
That is, it should be a crime to discriminate between devices passing SafetyNet, and devices which fail.
My $0.02.
A government is a body of people notably ungoverned - AC
but I was just hoping there's a reason somewhere in between the two.
There isn't any, basically businesses are trying to prevent people from owning and controlling the things they pay for to turn it into a racket. The new model is "everything as a service" where you merely rent your existence from these big companies. It's a real revenue generator.
On the other hand better development of third party repair shops would reduce workload for company's own repair facilities. The only reason companies can get away with such ineffective labor distribution is because all other companies do it. Trashing perfectly working devices because cost of repair is higher than cost of a new one(most likely due to authorized repair facilities having inadequate capacity due to monopoly privileges allowing for very few of them) is ridiculous and economically inefficient and if market forces aren't working to prevent it then it's yet another example of market failure.