from Hacker News

Let's Get Right to Repair Passed – Louis Rossmann

by OrwellianChild on 4/5/21, 10:25 PM with 25 comments

• by hellbannedguy on 4/6/21, 12:55 AM

  To the wealthy guys out there whom like nice watches.

  Look down at that Rolex. It’s a mechanical work of art? You felt so good walking out the boutique. “I work hard, and now a treat?”

  The minute that warranty ends, if the watch stops working, or needs a Service (clean, and oil usually), you don’t have many options other than sending that watch back to the factory for repair—-at factory prices.

  Rolex, and The Swatch Group cut off parts/information to 99.99% of Independent Watchmakers in the last decade.

  Rolex, and The Swatch Group, politely call it Vertical Integration with quality assurance as the reason. It’s a money grab after the sale.

  The government looked into it under Obama, but decided it was a wealthy man’s problem, and they had bigger issues—which they did.

  It seems to violate The Sherman Anti-trust Act?

  My point is Right to Repair will help many of us bring some choice back to our lives. We can have stuff repaired reasonably, instead of tossing the item, storing it away in the dedicated closet of “I loved this item, and one day I’ll have it repaired”, or buying a new one.

• by throwhelp41890 on 4/6/21, 12:42 AM

  "Many people have asked for a simple, concise, non-profanity laden video that summarizes the issue that is shareable to politicians and family members. Here you go. No profanity, no technobabble, just a basic explanation. Go forth and share. Thank you!" -- Louis Rossmann

  What is Right to repair? An intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Npd_xDuNi9k

• by ChrisCinelli on 4/6/21, 12:21 AM

  I watched a few of Louis' videos when I was trying to repair my old Mac and some just because it was fun to hear him talking about the repairs by Cettified Apple Technicians.

  This man deserves to win and humanity deserves the right to repair thier stuff.

• by rabf on 4/6/21, 1:18 AM

  For those who are younger here, many electronic products used to come with the circuit diagram included with the product.

  At the very least service manuals were available for repair professionals which included detailed operation explanations, disassembly diagrams, service procedures, diagnostic and calibration instructions.

• by OrwellianChild on 4/6/21, 12:36 AM

  For context, in case folks aren't familiar with how this works, a single state passing right-to-repair forces companies to change the way they operate nationally/internationally... If Massachusetts (where Rossmann hopes to get on the ballot) requires Apple to provide parts, documentation, etc. the rest of the world gets it too.

• by ChrisCinelli on 4/6/21, 12:18 AM

  > Right to Repair is the concept that you should be able to choose who repairs the device you own. We believe you should not be stuck going back to the manufacturer or dealer because parts, chips, manuals or tools are restricted by the manufacturer. Right now, manufacturers collude with a number of companies on a regular basis to keep repair shops & end users from being able to buy parts to fix their devices, going so far as to restrict access to a battery charging IC - one of the most common chips to fail in modern consumer electronics!

• by taylodl on 4/6/21, 1:25 AM

  Do Right to Repair laws include software? Most commercial software is covered by a license making it illegal to even disassemble or reverse engineer the software.

  Do Right to Repair laws make it so items have to be reparable by people of average ability and using commonly-available tools?

  If Right to Repair laws aren’t providing for these things then who’s interests are actually being served?

• by sebastien_b on 4/6/21, 1:00 AM

  Someone sent in $100K directly for the funds - WOW! And my personal thanks, from a supporter of this cause.

• by Daho0n on 4/5/21, 11:01 PM

  Good luck. I'd support it if it were not a US thing.