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Colorado Denied Its Citizens the Right-to-Repair After Riveting Testimony:
Colorado’s proposed right-to-repair law was simple and clear. At 11 pages, the legislation spent most of its word count defining terms, but the gist was simple: It would let people fix their own stuff without needing to resort to the manufacturer and force said manufacturer to support people who want to fix stuff.
“For the purpose of providing services for digital electronic equipment sold or used in this state, an original equipment manufacturer shall, with fair and reasonable terms and cost, make available to an independent repair provider or owner of the manufacturer’s equipment any documentation, parts, embedded software, firmware, or tools that are intended for use with the digital electronic equipment, including updates to documentation, information, or embedded software,” the proposed bill said.
Right-to-repair is often spoken of in the context of broken phone screens, but it doesn’t just affect people’s personal devices. Agricultural and medical equipment are increasingly impossible to fix because manufacturers want to maintain a monopoly on repairing the product. These issues can make the right-to-repair literally life and death.
The Colorado House Business Affairs & Labor committee met to consider the law on March 25. Twelve legislators voted to indefinitely postpone considering the bill. Only one voted for it. “I still have a lot of questions. I still have a lot of concerns,” Rep. Monica Duran (D) said at the end of the committee hearing. She voted no on the bill.
[...] It was a stunning statement given just how many people testified on behalf of the right-to-repair legislation and how few questions the committee asked them.
Here's just the first of the many cases cited:
Kenny Maestas, who uses a wheelchair, drove this home in his testimony before the committee. Maestas spent a long time in the hospital and when he came home, his mobility was restricted. An electric wheelchair helped him get around, but it was broken. The right arm of the chair was broken and the battery would no longer hold a charge.
“Both my son and brothers were capable and ready to do whatever needed to get done...I called on the 14th of December,” he told the committee. “I was told the next time a tech would be in my area would be the 18th of January. As a rural resident of Colorado I’m used to a regional delay, but 35 days seemed excessive.”
Maestas said that the electric wheelchair company had the battery and spare parts on file to fix his chair, but the company’s procedure required a technician to first inspect the chair before making a repair. It was another 28 days after the tech first arrived before Maestas was mobile again. It was more than 60 days before his chair was working again.
“It’s never appropriate to make a human being with a critical care need wait over two months for a repair that could have been completed in two days,” he said. The committee asked Maestas no questions.
The story concludes:
[...] Bill sponsor Brianna Titone (D) told Motherboard she plans to keep fighting.
“I was particularly frustrated by a committee member who said they had ‘so many unanswered questions’ yet didn't ask any during the committee,” she said in an email.
[...] Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Washington are also considering right-to-repair laws. Colorado’s fight is a preview for what to expect as legislators prepare to consider those bills.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Socrastotle on Wednesday April 07 2021, @06:18PM (25 children)
It doesn't matter if you out-spend the corporation on any given bill. The reasons the politicians are total sell outs is because in the longrun the corporation will always be there for them. They'll fund all of their runs, they'll wine them and dine them to the extent they can wiggle around the law, and then once they leave office they'll be set for a nice fat "consulting" gig where the real payout awaits, and all 100% legal. And not only is their the carrot, but there's also the stick. As mergers and acquisitions gradually grow to create "The One United Corporation of the United States", special interests are extremely incestuous. Don't do what the corporation wants and expect them to do everything they can to kill your next run, block your fund raising efforts, actively support your opponent, and if you've especially pissed them off - even start getting their media outlets (which are so trendy to own now a days: Disney - ABC, Comcast - NBC, AT&T - CNN, etc, etc) to bash you endlessly.
Private citizens with some sort of grass foots fund raising is just a joke compared to these forces. The only clean option is to start electing politicians whom are effectively anti-politicians. And that's hard to do, because the one and only thing politicians are good at is convincing people to vote for them - and deflecting any and all blame away from themselves, at least on the macro level. So you don't need to convince the informed, educated, populate to vote against the establishment - but rather the guys who know next to nothing and vote based on the casual perusal of corporate media as their main source of infotainment.
Democracy doesn't die in darkness. It dies in stupidity and myopia. And we're there.
(Score: 3, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 07 2021, @09:15PM (21 children)
Oh come on. The USA elected ONE anti-politician and then collectively lost their fucking minds over him. Point out a single bad presidential action that Trump took - you can't. That's a phenomenal record.
Yet the media and establishment have convinced more than half the electorate that he was literally Hitler.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Tork on Wednesday April 07 2021, @10:30PM (2 children)
He infected a number of generals at the Pentagon with COVID via dipshittery.
He performed his dipshittery in front of cameras and on Twitter. You dudes had to work a LOT harder to defend Trump than you did Bush because of that.
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @01:45AM (1 child)
You say that like it's a bad thing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @02:57PM
Only if the other side does it.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Pslytely Psycho on Wednesday April 07 2021, @10:34PM (15 children)
"Point out a single bad presidential action that Trump took - you can't."
The wall.
Diverting money from more important projects to the wall.
The tax cut for the wealthy.
The handling of the COVID 19 crisis.
Pulling us out of the Paris Climate accord.
Pulling us out of the Iran agreement.
Alienating our allies.
The trade war with China.
Abandoning our allies (Kurds) in the field.
Longest government shutdown in history.
Taking credit for Obama's 2014 Veterans Choice act.
30,000+ verified lies.
Claiming he was handed a bad economy and fixed it.
Holding up disaster funds in Washington state because he was having a hissy fit over Inslee.
Lying about Covid.
Playing more golf than Obama, while claiming he wouldn't have time.
8+ hours of 'executive time' every day (read watch TV and rage on twitter)
Dishonoring a Gold Star family.
Dishonoring our service members.
Oh, you only asked for ONE.......
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.
(Score: 0, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 07 2021, @10:56PM (8 children)
You believe everything you read don't you?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Tork on Wednesday April 07 2021, @11:26PM (1 child)
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 07 2021, @11:38PM
Remember these idiots were told not to believe what they see and hear, so they truly think every bad thing about dumpo is a lie even when Fox reports it. It is very scary to think people would buy into such a shitty cult so easily. Or they are just trolls hoping to annoy liberals, but it is quite fun to recount dumpo's misdeeds so they fail there too.
(Score: 5, Touché) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday April 07 2021, @11:43PM (5 children)
So those aren't true then? You dispute it, so back your counterclaim up.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Tork on Wednesday April 07 2021, @11:48PM
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @01:51AM (3 children)
Everything on that list except the one about the Kurds is either vague or a value judgement.
Betraying the Kurds was bad, but he was just the latest in a long line of Presidents to do that. They have all been shitting on the Kurds since the first Gulf War.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @03:26AM (2 children)
Yeah? And who are the "Kurds"? Some kind or rare little cherub worth spilling American blood? You think they won't slice your throat at the drop of a hat?
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @06:08AM (1 child)
Glad to know your version of the US is one where we don't keep our word and betray allies when politically convenient. That isn't the US I grew up to believe in, though over time I've realized it was only ever a goal to strive for. Now we have the ancestors of immigrants such as yourself committing treason against their own country while spewing naked xenophobia. Gross.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 11 2021, @02:55AM
allies please! You know what they told the kurds? "Join us, or die". They were fucked from the beginning. You grew up believing in shameless propaganda
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @04:34AM (2 children)
The one single bad presidential action: bump stock ban
The wall is of utmost importance. Half the illegals come via hopping the border. Those are the people who are unable to obtain even a tourist or farm worker visa because they have criminal records. Money was not diverted from more important projects because such projects do not exist and haven't existed for 75 years.
There was a tax cut for most tax payers. It does expire for the middle class, for annoying constitutional reasons, but republicans made an offer to prevent the expiration. (see the Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz exchange on Twitter) The similar situation with Bush tax cuts ended with the middle class tax cuts being extended, so this was a reasonable hope. Now that democrats have complete domination, we can see that they truly are uninterested in helping the middle class. Democrats are keeping the tax cuts for the rich, of course.
Handling of the COVID 19 crisis was done very well. Trump shut down China travel immediately. Remember that democrats opposed that; clearly they wanted a viral disaster to unseat the president.
Pulling out of the Paris Climate accord is another thing done to make America great. Why do you hate America? That agreement was just a way to shovel money from the USA to other nations, who would all be permitted to dramatically increase emissions. It was a plan to hobble to USA.
Pulling us out of the Iran agreement was fine. That was a really foul agreement. No, it didn't bring peace and harmony.
Alienating out allies mostly didn't happen, and some "allies" are sometimes worth alienating. The job of the president isn't to unconditionally kiss European ass. At times Trump applied pressure, and foreigners bitched about it. Oh well. Trump did great for the USA.
The trade war with China has been going on for decades. You hadn't noticed? It's still a war even if you don't return fire. We call that "losing". I prefer winning. FYI, an analysis of the tariffs by the Europeans showed that China was paying more than 80% of them, via lowered prices. Prices had to be lowered to keep factories from going idle and then failing to pay back loans. The technical reason that China paid over 80% of the tariffs is "elasticity of supply" and "elasticity of demand" for the countries involved. The tax on transactions will change the price signal; it does not matter which party hands over the cash.
I wouldn't call a bunch of literally communist Kurds our "allies". In any case, abandoning them brought more peace.
That government shutdown might be something to be proud of. When shut down, the government doesn't do as much awful shit. Credit goes to the democrats though, who refused to cooperate with out president.
Taking credit for anything Obama did is fair play, since Obama took credit for the first 3 years of Trump's amazing economy.
30,000+ verified sarcasm is fine. Trump didn't lie in any meaningful way.
He was handed a bad economy, and he did fix it. He deregulated, wiping out 2.5 regulations for each that was created.
Washington state does not need disaster funds.
Fauci lied about Covid. (no you don't need a mask, masks are useless for normal people) China lied about Covid. (totally under control and it came from the US military)
Playing golf is less of a big deal if you OWN THE DAMN COURSE. Trump mainly played at his house, which happens to be at his golf resort club. Trump was also doing legitimate things like negotiating with Xi.
8+ hours of 'executive time' to fuck his supermodel wife is fine with me.
Being a "Gold Star family" doesn't exempt you from being a piece of shit that earns dishonor.
Dishonoring our service members didn't happen. That story is made-up shit, coldly calculated to affect an election.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @05:28AM
“Why should I go to that cemetery? It’s filled with losers.”
“That guy is smart. Why did he join the military?”
“Nobody wants to see [wounded veterans].”
And the one that may have cost him the election, "I like people who weren’t captured.”
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Friday April 09 2021, @12:33AM
In hindsight, I'm not so sure about the bump stock ban... because that was overturned by the 6th Circuit, which makes it that much harder to re-institute such a ban. And no doubt that possibility was discussed before the ban.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2021/mar/25/bump-stocks-not-machine-guns-and-not-subject-atf-b/ [washingtontimes.com]
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @05:39AM (1 child)
OK now that you have established that you are good at lists, how about a list
of Biden's misdeeds?
How come its so difficult to understand Democrook vs Republocrook?
None of these jerks are gonna help you.
Break the stranglehold of the duopoly
...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @01:50PM
Before you get too uppity about going to zealous extremes to defend a political figure... there haven't been waves of people braving a pandemic wearing blue hats. Objectively you guys go to much further extremes to defend Trump.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 09 2021, @08:58AM
He promised wall. Not being a Democrat is not a fuck up. Not doing what was promised is. My god how deep is your head inside your ass? Don't answer it. And trade war with China was not bad it was late and should have happened 20 years ago. While Hillary Clinton bombed Libya and Bush bombed Iraq for demanding payment in gold, China literally kept all foreign companies outside of its market until it had a good domestic competition, funding its students in American universities and giving them lucrative government jobs and high paying positions in the party.
USA is run by greedy asshole who look at short term profit and can't fathom long games. Trump might be incompetent but he didn't go away because of that he went away because he exposed the ruling class for being self serving and pretentious hypocrites that they are.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @02:56PM (1 child)
One time he said covfefe and made America momentarily unGreat.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Reziac on Friday April 09 2021, @12:27AM
Show me the words *you* have put into the lexicon....
...he didn't? you're still using it, aren't you??
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by crafoo on Wednesday April 07 2021, @10:36PM (2 children)
Good points, and it seems you've thought through this issue.
So yeah, what we are dealing with here is the nature of true power. Money is a rationing method for power, but as you say, the mob isn't as predictable or dependable as well-organized corporations.
The only other expression of power is violence, that I'm aware of. 2019-2020 proved the mob isn't prepared to go this far. So yeah. Time to be slaves.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @02:59PM (1 child)
And the other "only other" approach is peaceful protest, which seemed to catch on unlike the hundreds-strong confederate shitfest on Jan 6.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 08 2021, @04:14PM
Peaceful protest is useless. When you look at the famous examples where it worked, it really didn't. The most famous is Gandhi.
Narrative: Gandhi struggled through decades of protest, resisting all calls to violence, and struggled solely through non-violent civil disobedience. He ultimately would live to see his dream realized and India granted their independence from the British Empire.
Reality: After WW2 the British Empire was literally bankrupt. And this was in the time when money actually meant something. They ended up rapidly "freeing" their numerous territories, starting with the least valuable. India after WW2 was basically worthless, and required an immense amount of upkeep to maintain. Numerous other countries, including those with no "Brexit" movement whatsoever, were also "freed". India would have been "freed" with or without Gandhi.
Even in the US. The Civil Rights movement didn't cause the Civil Rights Act. The most obvious evidence here is Vietnam. Vietnam and Civil Rights Protests were in most cases one and the same thing. The US government wanted to stay in Vietnam, however, and so we did until the point we were forcibly removed. So if that's just narrative what's reality? We had the most machiavellian president who likely ever held office in the United States passed the Civil Rights Act while allegedly [snopes.com] making comments such as, "I'll have those niggers voting democrat for the next 100 years." Link to Snopes there since they rate the claim as unproven (which is reasonable), but provide mountains of character evidence indicating such a claim would have been a run of the mill comment for LBJ - he was an absolutely horrible person.
Peaceful protest imposes no threat on the powers that be. They can wait for arbitrarily long periods of time. As protests wear on public sentiment tends to wane, and the protesters grow bored or run out of funding.