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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: 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