New York could become first state with a ‘Right to Repair’ law
"Right to repair" always seems a weak formulation. It's great to have
"rights" but people don't always care to exercise them, and can be
dissuaded from exercising them.<p>Right To Repair sounds nice. It alliterates. But of <i>course</i> we have a
right to repair our stuff. That goes without saying.<p>What's really at issue is a <i>duty upon manufacturer's not to obstruct</i>
the four R's, to;<p>- refuse<p>- reuse<p>- repair<p>- recycle<p>Let's get specific, instead of a wishy "rights" formulation.<p>No technology must ever by soft-mandated or made a dependency so as to
preclude an ethical, environmental or economic choice to not partake
in its use, or to substitute other choices.<p>No technology should be encumbered with locks, licenses or mechanisms
that affect the post-sale rights of its owner to repurpose or modify
as they see fit (all other safety and contention (RF) issues can be
dealt with at a another layer of legislation and enforcement.)<p>No impediment shall be made to the access, manufacture and distribution
of spare parts or consumables, software updates, power supplies,
connectors etc<p>Designs should not, by the use of adhesives, welding, non-standard
fixings, unnecessary integration, traps, and fuses, prevent the easy
disassembly and reuse of modular components.