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Right to Repair Legislation Is Officially Being Considered In Canada

posted by mrpg on Saturday February 23 2019, @11:20AM   
from the let's-move dept.

canopic jug writes:

A legislator in Canada has proposed a bill to ensure that individuals and indpendent shops can repair brand-name devices. If on the off chance that the bill becomes law, major hardware vendors will have to change how they sell their products.

[...] On Thursday, Coteau introduced a private member's bill in provincial parliament that, if passed, would be the first "right to repair" law for electronic devices in North America. More than a dozen US states are currently considering similar bills, but nothing is on the books yet in the US or in Canada.

The legislation proposes that tech companies make diagnostic tools, repair manuals, and official parts available to consumers at their request. The legislation would also require that any new products ship with a repair manual. Documents provided to consumers must be free unless they request paper copies, and parts, tools, and software must be provided at a fair price.

Earlier on SN:
Apple's T2 Security Chip Can Prevent Unauthorized Third-Party Repair of Devices
Yes, Americans, You Can Break Anti-Piracy DRM If You Want to Repair Some of Your Kit – US Govt
45 Out of 50 Electronics Companies Illegally Void Warranties After Independent Repair, Sting Reveals
The Right to Repair Battle Has Come to California

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Original Submission

• Re:Even more important (Score: 2) by TheRaven on Sunday February 24 2019, @07:08PM

  by TheRaven (270) on Sunday February 24 2019, @07:08PM (#806008) Journal

  For phones, the important thing to be able to repair is the software. Currently, a lot of phones are unsafe to use for their intended purpose as soon as the manufacturer stops shipping software updates: it will include known vulnerabilities that are remotely exploitable. The minimum requirement for the manufacturer should be to provide a mechanism for unlocking the bootloader and sufficient documentation for all hardware in the device that third parties can write drivers. I imagine that would be very hard to pass: imagine how much Apple would complain if they were required to make it possible for someone to port Android to every iOS device as soon as they stopped shipping security updates for it.

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