If I loosely quote Louis Rossmann, one of the issue of right to repair is that more and more companies (Apple leading the trend) are using slightly modified chips from manufacturers, and them make then sign contracts that prevent any part selling to anyone.<p>So technically even you can replace those chips, you can't buy them.<p>And next Apple if putting serial numbers to prevent that even if you get the part, you will have a non-functional device.<p>This bill does not appear to address that.<p>Besides, the "information they need to repair" is also where the devil will be. Companies like Apple provide instructions on how to unscrew the laptop cover with a screwdriver (literally), but won't provide any data sheets.
<i>Normally the next step would be a vote on an identical bill in the state’s Assembly.<p>But Thursday is the last day of session for the NY legislature, and the bill has not yet escaped committee, making a vote by the full Assembly unlikely.<p>The battle for fair repair in New York will continue into next year’s session, with a strong record of success.</i><p>So eventually... maybe.
From someone living in NY and having watched bills like this... Last time this came up it silently died without a vote. This vote is probably symbolic and it will languish in the Assembly forever. It is nice they voted for this overwhelmingly but it has not been "passed" as a law. It just passed step 1/3
If NY really wants to cut e-waste they should require removable batteries in cellphones and laptops.<p>The move to non-removable batteries always seemed like a thinly veild money grab to me.
Not really related but ifixit really is fantastic. I’ve fixed so many things I had no business being able to fix on my own thanks to their guides and videos. I wish more people would turn to their site before throwing stuff away.
I think right to repair bills could be important, but I think they should also cover cases where the physical device is fine, but the company is no longer running a service, or sending security updates. In these cases, "repair" should include the ability to run different firmware etc.
Can someone please explain exactly what regulations are being proposed and what manufactures will be required to do? Are manufacturer going to be, for example, required to manufacture electronic parts for every old model and keep them available for 10 years as was suggested in one comment? I'm sympathetic but there is no way this is going to work. There are literally thousands of different models of phones, for example, made every year. Ask yourself if it is it really practical to require manufacturers to keep generating parts for every old model? And then multiply that problem countlessly for every other electronic product out there.I don't think this is an area for regulation This is a recipe for shutting down the tech hardware industry. This is an area for customer pressure not regulations. This will be a hugely burdensome on manufacturers and will greatly reduce the amount of innovation and new products. And shut many new products out of the marketplace.
Can anyone comment on this please? (from the nysenate.gov link in the article)<p>"This bill require original equipment manufacturers (OEM) to make diag-
nostic and repair information for digital electronic parts and equipment
available to independent repair providers and consumers <i>if such parts
and repair information are also available to OEM authorized repair
providers.</i>"<p>This seems to imply that if something is being sold as non repairable, it will continue to be, since there would be no authorized repair providers.
I appreciate the immediate problem and I guess policy like this is better than nothing. But to me the cause of this is less of a lack of "rights" as it is a lack of competition in the market. I would much rather choose products that have a more open and repairable architecture rather than have additional regulation.
Devils advocate:<p>Why is hardware treated different than software?<p>If I own a perpetual license for some type of software, should I be entitled to “repair” the software I own.<p>(Note: I’m not including SaaS in this since your don’t own that)
<i>4. Excludes motor vehicle manufacturers, manufacturer of motor vehicle
equipment, or motor vehicle dealers and medical devices or a digital
electronic product or embedded software found in medical settings.</i><p>For all the bravado about standing up to powerful interests, this shows you who the most powerful interests are in that space.
Quote: "At a virtual session, the Senate approved S4104 by a margin of 51 to 12"<p>Who are those 12? Name them and make sure they don't get reelected.
Did you know that if you buy a 2021 BMW M5 and paid $120k for it in cash (no financing), then let the warranty expire (or hypothetically signed an opt-in waiver forgoing your powertrain warranty), you still can't flash your own calibration map to increase power into the engine control units?<p>I'm sure there's a ton of good reasons why liability wise. Just seems crazy to me.<p>I guess it's the same when you buy a $1k iPhone and can't run your own unsigned software.