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Right to Repair's Unlikely New Adversary: Scientologists
"A totally unreasonable proposal" [arstechnica.com]:
The right-to-repair movement has had its share of adversaries. From Big Tech to politicians and individuals who don't think product repairability should be government-mandated, it has been a tedious battle for a movement that has seen major wins lately. One of the most recent wins came from Apple, a former DIY repair combatant, supporting repairability legislation. But taking Apple's place is a new entity aiming to limit right-to-repair legislation: Scientologists.
Today, 404 Media reported on a letter sent on August 10 to the US Copyright Office by Ryland Hawkins of Author Services Inc. The company, its website and letterhead say, represents the "literary, theatrical, and musical works of L. Ron Hubbard, the late founder of Scientology. Author Services, according to records archived via the WayBackMachine, is owned by the Church of Spiritual Technology, which describes itself as a church within Scientology.
The letter addresses Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which "makes it unlawful to circumvent technological measures used to prevent unauthorized access to copyrighted works." The Scientology group's letter seeks to alter exemptions granted for self-repairing some consumer electronics, like video game consoles, laptops, home appliances, and farming tractors.
[...] The Scientology-tied group seeks an amendment to the exemption so that it doesn't apply to software-powered devices that can only be purchased by someone with particular qualifications or training or that use software "governed by a license agreement negotiated and executed" before purchase.
[...] As to why a Scientology-owned group would care about such a matter, 404 Media suggested that it could have to do with Scientology E-meters, or electropsychometers. The Church of Scientology describes the machines as an "electronic instrument that measures mental state and change of state in individuals and assists the precision and speed of auditing" and that only a Scientology minister or training minister should use. 404 Media noted that some people collect the devices and, oddly enough, you can find E-Meters sold on eBay.
[...] If this letter is indeed about E-meters, the only electronic device Scientology is readily connected to, then Author Services may be concerned about how the Church of Scientology's reputation could be impacted if E-Meters are dissected.
"My hunch is that the Scientologists think granting the hacking community permission to dig into their E-Meter software will expose the whole operation as snake oil. The request is like so many other anti-Right to Repair arguments: Manufacturers are afraid that access to repair materials will expose some of their other dirty secrets," Chamberlain said.
Nathan Proctor, US Public Interest Research Group's senior director, told 404 Media that Author Services' requested DMCA changes would prevent people from repairing products with end-user license agreements (EULAs). E-Meters have EULAs, 404 Media reported, that block ordinary people from getting into critical software and require an International Association of Scientologists membership number to update E-meter software.
Regardless of how an organization representing the works of the creator of Scientology ended up in the Copyright Office's mailbox, right-to-repair advocates say the amendment would harm the movement and would extend past electropsychometers if it were ever implemented.
"Obviously, very few people own E-Meters and even fewer people want to repair them. But the amendment they're proposing could undermine repair rights for many other devices," Chamberlain said.
