Appliance Companies Are Lobbying to Protect Their DRM-Fueled Repair Monopolies
The bill (HB 4747) would require electronics manufacturers to sell replacement parts and tools, to allow independent repair professionals and consumers to bypass software locks that are strictly put in place to prevent "unauthorized" repair, and would require manufacturers to make available the same repair diagnostic tools and diagrams to the general public that it makes available to authorized repair professionals. Similar legislation has been proposed in 17 other states, though Illinois has advanced it the furthest so far.
Companies such as Apple and John Deere have fought vehemently against such legislation in several states, but the letters, sent to bill sponsor David Harris and six other lawmakers and obtained by Motherboard, show that other companies are fighting against right to repair as well.
(Via Motherboard)
The right to repair used to be assumed. I remember working on my grandfather's car with my Dad. I remember changing oil and tires and brakes and head units and shocks and mufflers, &t for that and other cars．And I wasn't (and still am not) a car guy.
I built and fixed computers when replaceable parts were the norm.
My Dad, members of my family, and people with whom I went to university worked on farms and ranches & regularly repaired the heavy equipment．These were the real instances of duct tape and baling wire.
How about early the early telephone system, which sometimes used barbed wire stretched along fences in rural communities?
We're not in the early telephone days. We're in a world where companies can prevent their customers from having agency over products they purchase. Companies can put their customers at risk and not allow the very same customers to protect themselves or even be able to figure out if they're at risk in the first place.
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