Bitterly disapointed in California lawmakers killing right to repair bill

[ripcord]

A California Right to Repair bill, SB 983, died in committee last week, despite broad consumer support for fixable products.

It's not clear who killed the bill, but Right to Repair advocates point to the usual suspects – the tech companies that benefit by controlling who can repair their goods and that have lobbied against Right to Repair bills all over the US.

"It happened in the most shadowy, unaccountable part of the process, so it's hard to know exactly what happened," said Nathan Proctor, US Public Interest Research Groups (PIRG) senior Right to Repair campaign director, in a message to The Register.

Proctor said it could be that special interests got to political leaders but also allowed that those nixing the bill just didn't consider it to be a priority at the moment.

https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/01/california_repair_bill/

This is total bullshit that our lawmakers gave in to special interests in the tech industry.

[dalton99a]

1. #1 Suspect: Apple

[ripcord]

3. I think it is that all lawmakers are susceptible to pressure from special interests

When one side gets a block of a lawmakers undivided time to make their professionally made presentation and the other isn't they are at a distinct advantage.

[brooklynite]

5. Try again...

Apple’s Self Service Repair now available

CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today announced Self Service Repair is now available, providing repair manuals and genuine Apple parts and tools through the Apple Self Service Repair Store. Self Service Repair is available in the US and will expand to additional countries — beginning in Europe — later this year.

The new online store offers more than 200 individual parts and tools, enabling customers who are experienced with the complexities of repairing electronic devices to complete repairs on the iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 lineups and iPhone SE (3rd generation), such as the display, battery, and camera. Later this year the program will also include manuals, parts, and tools to perform repairs on Mac computers with Apple silicon.

To start the Self Service Repair process, a customer will first review the repair manual for the product they want to repair by visiting support.apple.com/self-service-repair. Then, they can visit the Apple Self Service Repair Store and order the necessary parts and tools.

https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2022/04/apples-self-service-repair-now-available/

[ripcord]

8. Apple's Self Repair Service is lip service

They have made the process so onerous that most users still wind up going to Apple for repairs.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. I wonder if this is auto parts patent owners hiding behind software copyright law

Because there's been a 120 years of aftermarket auto parts, now suddenly we're not allowed to repair things ourselves.

That may have left lawmakers with no place to go. Copyright law is too sacrosanct to overwrite. It would be like eminent domain seizure.

[ripcord]

6. It is big tech and electronics companies nt

[njhoneybadger]

4. Special interest write the laws.

The whole system is corrupt. It's just a cat and mouse game now.

[Magoo48]

7. It's always disappointing when Republicanism breaks out here in our blue state.

When Republicans and dinos get together they cause trouble.

[former9thward]

12. Republicans have no power in the CA legislature.

[wackadoo wabbit]

9. When people argue with me that there's not a lot of difference between the 2 parties,

this is the sort of thing they pull out and shove in my face. Tbh, it's hard to formulate a good comeback.

[hunter]

10. LBGQT rights are important. The homeless problem is important. Gun regulation is important. Etc.

There are huge differences between the two parties on those issues.

I use a flip phone and drive a 25 year old truck. Neither is a necessity.

I don't care about replacing the battery in my iPhone or my Tesla because there's no fucking way in hell I'd ever own either unless I found them in a dumpster.

Consumers do have some power here.

My major concern related to this issue is e-waste. From my perspective that shit is all e-waste when it leaves the factory.

Anti-consumerism reduces e-waste. "Right to repair" reduces it to a much lesser extent.

Yeah, I'm some kind of Luddite and radical environmentalist.

Stop buying e-waste.

[canetoad]

14. You are 100% correct that consumers hold the power

And for some reason they neglect to excercise it.

I'm not a Luddite (not that there's anything wrong with that - they protested mechanisation that threw workers into poverty) but know there is a limit to the frivolous new gizmos that are pushed on us as necessary.

If we want lower prices and recyle-ability, we need to shun the purveyors of every cheap piece of crap that is being pushed on us by people who could not give a flying fuck about the planet, it's people, it's plants and animals. A rolling boycott, if it were big enough, could put a dent in them.

In the end, I put it all down to suggestibility. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but marketers have learned to exploit this foible of the human brain for their own ends and the planets harm.

[Raine]

13. Yup, they make it very hard for us to defend

their actions when they do these kind of things. I can't and I won't defend them when they give in to special interests.

[Raine]

11. Very disappointing

I remember I signed petition for this.