Tech Lobbyists Are Trying To Kill Colorado’s Popular ‘Right To Repair’ Law
from the this-is-why-we-can't-have-nice-things dept
There’s a meaningful push afoot to implement statewide “right to repair” laws that try to make it cheaper, easier, and environmentally friendlier for you to repair the technology you own. Unfortunately, while all fifty states have at least flirted with the idea, only Massachusetts, New York, Texas, Minnesota, Colorado, California, Oregon, and Washington have actually passed laws.
Passage can be a challenge due to the relentless lobbying of numerous industries that very much enjoy a monopoly over repair (especially tech and auto). New York State’s law, for example, was watered down by NY Governor Kathy Hochul after passage because tech companies didn’t like it.
The same thing is afoot in Colorado, where tech companies are trying to neuter that state’s right to repair laws. Colorado’s assortment of laws, which first appeared in 2022, have implemented protections covering wheelchairs, agricultural farming equipment, and consumer electronics, making it easier for consumers in all those sectors to afford repairs and gain easier access to parts, manuals, and tools.
But tech companies like Cisco and IBM have pushed Colorado lawmakers to sign off on SB26-090, the Exempt Critical Infrastructure from Right to Repair law, which would neuter much of the protections under the pretense of making the public safer. As you might imagine, the companies’ are trying to use a definition of “critical infrastructure” that’s so large and vague as to render all the protections meaningless:
“I can point out at least five problems with the bill as drafted,” Gay Gordon-Byrne, the executive director at the Repair Association, said during the hearing. “The definition of critical infrastructure is completely inadequate. The definition that has been proposed in this bill is not even a definition.”
While tech company lobbyists have convinced the Colorado Labor and Technology committee to advance the bill, it still needs approval by the Colorado Senate and House, which may prove more difficult now that outlets like Ars Technica and Wired have shed a little light on the effort.
It’s worth pointing out that while eight states have now passed right to repair laws, none have actually enforced them despite numerous, ongoing infractions across countless industries. That’s something that’s going to need to change if state rhetoric on the subject is to be taken seriously.
Filed Under: colorado, consumers, hardware, lobbying, parts, prices, right to repair, tech, tools
Comments on “Tech Lobbyists Are Trying To Kill Colorado’s Popular ‘Right To Repair’ Law”
There’s a huge tell here in that the law targets “critical infrastructure .
You can’t define “critical infrastructure by the type of device.. a router at a private home clearly isn’t , a router in government office or power plant, probably is…you can however define critical infrastructure by -who the user is-
What IBM and Cisco are protecting here is their revenue stream from the people with deep pockets.. Government and other big industries…
Now, other industries may well have the incentives and resources to push back and sink the bill…
Government? It -should- have the same incentives and resources… but well… you know how it goes.
Win, win
If we want to destroy Iran, just deport all of the lobbyists from the US to Tehran.
Can we have a better explanation?
“lobbying of numerous industries ”
Shenanigan’s?
Moola?
Backroom manipulations?
Watched 1 Public meeting, Where Words had no meaning, for a simple reason.
Those that Needed to understand DIDNT know WTF, the tech they were talking about. Meeting was about the Controls and restriction to repair of THOSE controls in Farming Equipment. John Deer and a few others Using Non-Standard ways to make a Vehicle work, That could ONLY be fixed/repaired/Adjusted BY tha=ose companies. And incase there was a Breakdown, and the Computers Didnt work correctly, Would cost $1000’s to get a Tech 100 miles away to come over and hit the RESET button.
After the Public meeting, was a Private meeting with the Representative’s, Suggesting it was 90% to Protect the farmer’s.
And the 50 persons in the Public Meeting, Could NOT debate what was said, or see how much money was Split up.
It cannot be overstated how important right to repair laws are for disabled people, particularly when it comes to equipment like wheelchairs essential to daily life. The amount of time it takes to obtain parts and repairs from mobility companies truly boggles my mind. My friend currently has parts of his wheelchair duct taped together. Last year, it took months just to replace the battery in his electric chair, greatly limiting his mobility and independence (he has the fine motor control for a joystick on an electric chair, but not the gross to use a manual one). We tend to think of vehicles and electronic gadgets when considering right to repair laws (and those things are important), but anyone who cares for disabled people or is themselves disabled can tell you what a nightmare it is just to get and repair the equipment your life depends on in a manner that is efficient and timely. This is all exacerbated by the fact that everything for disabled people is so damn expensive no one wants to risk voiding their warranty.