Right to Repair in Maine USA - 13th Feb Public Hearing

[Psi]

If anyone is in Maine USA and believes in the consumers rights to get their products repaired and/or order spare parts, please consider attending the public hearing on February 13th at 2PM to discuss the right to repair bill.
The more local Maine people that attend and speak (if you want) the more the bill will be taken seriously. (Note the date could change, so if you do go make sure you check it the day before)

https://legiscan.com/ME/bill/LD1977/2019

Most of you will be familiar with the right to repair issue, but in case anyone isn't the TLDR is that big companies often have a monopoly on repair and charge a ridiculous amount to repair a product to force you to throw it away and buy a new one. Even when the fault is a $1 fuse.
They also refuse to sell parts that are unique to their device, making it hard or impossible for any 3rd party to do the repair. 
The Right to Repair bill tries to force companies to provide spare parts and schematics etc..

The big companies have been lobbying to try to stop this bill in many places around the world. They have been lying to senators and congress people in an attempt to scare them from being involved with the bill. Since the senators/congress people are mostly not engineers they don't see the lies.
No one really knows what lies have been said behind closed doors.
In public hearings some of the augments against the bill have been things like...

- Microwaves have a part called a Magtrometer and it will explode if serviced incorrectly.
VIDEO - skip to 1h 43m 55s for microwave bit  - http://y2u.be/HUx0gReDFkE

- Farmers might mod their 200HP tractor to be a 300HP tractor and this would be a safety concern since it's not designed to be 300HP.   
NOTE: In this case everyone in the industry knows they are talking about John Deear tractors and the 200HP tractor motor/transmission is identical to the 300HP tractor except for software mapping, so saying it would be unsafe to mod to 300HP and that it's not designed to run at 300HP is a lie, it's the same engine/transmission.
VIDEO - http://y2u.be/38O1zEuLOMM

- If anyone works on a boat other than the manufacture it will explode.
VIDEO - http://y2u.be/uVAYYV9WDZg

- i don't think this one was recorded, but apparently a lobbiest said that when you repair a Apple mac you turn it into a PC.  Probably intending to scare any senators who love macs so they are against the bill. (Oh the horror of sending in your macbook for repair and having it come back as a PC)


If you want to follow alone with everything, Louis Rossmann on youtube has been going to these public hearings and recording them to document all the stupid stuff being said to lawmakers against the right to repair. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl2mFZoRqjw_ELax4Yisf6w

[Brumby]

Louis has a video (released about 8 hours ago) specifically focussed on the Bill currently progressing in Maine.  It is specifically advocating Mainers to support the upcoming public hearing on February 13th, which is less than a week away.

In this, he acknowledges his opinion as a New Yorker won't carry anywhere near the weight that Maine constituents can provide - so Mainers, it's in your interest to stand up and be counted!

He also acknowledges the efforts by a number of politicians who actually care about this enough to make an effort and seriously search for and consider the issues - so make sure you give them the information and support they need to get this right!

[Ed.Kloonk]

If anyone is in Maine USA and believes in the consumers rights to get their products repaired and/or order spare parts, please consider attending the public hearing on February 13th at 2PM to discuss the right to repair bill.
The more local Maine people that attend and speak (if you want) the more the bill will be taken seriously. (Note the date could change, so if you do go make sure you check it the day before)

https://legiscan.com/ME/bill/LD1977/2019

Most of you will be familiar with the right to repair issue, but in case anyone isn't the TLDR is that big companies often have a monopoly on repair and charge a ridiculous amount to repair a product to force you to throw it away and buy a new one. Even when the fault is a $1 fuse.
They also refuse to sell parts that are unique to their device, making it hard or impossible for any 3rd party to do the repair. 
The Right to Repair bill tries to force companies to provide spare parts and schematics etc..

The big companies have been lobbying to try to stop this bill in many places around the world. They have been lying to senators and congress people in an attempt to scare them from being involved with the bill. Since the senators/congress people are mostly not engineers they don't see the lies.
No one really knows what lies have been said behind closed doors.
In public hearings some of the augments against the bill have been things like...

- Microwaves have a part called a Magtrometer and it will explode if serviced incorrectly.
VIDEO - skip to 1h 43m 55s for microwave bit  - http://y2u.be/HUx0gReDFkE

- Farmers might mod their 200HP tractor to be a 300HP tractor and this would be a safety concern since it's not designed to be 300HP.   
NOTE: In this case everyone in the industry knows they are talking about John Deear tractors and the 200HP tractor motor/transmission is identical to the 300HP tractor except for software mapping, so saying it would be unsafe to mod to 300HP and that it's not designed to run at 300HP is a lie, it's the same engine/transmission.
VIDEO - http://y2u.be/38O1zEuLOMM

- If anyone works on a boat other than the manufacture it will explode.
VIDEO - http://y2u.be/uVAYYV9WDZg

- i don't think this one was recorded, but apparently a lobbiest said that when you repair a Apple mac you turn it into a PC.  Probably intending to scare any senators who love macs so they are against the bill. (Oh the horror of sending in your macbook for repair and having it come back as a PC)


If you want to follow alone with everything, Louis Rossmann on youtube has been going to these public hearings and recording them to document all the stupid stuff being said to lawmakers against the right to repair. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl2mFZoRqjw_ELax4Yisf6w

Whilst I wish nothing but encouragement to this initiative, I also wish that effort was focused on better quality products to start with. Case in point the $1 fuse. I just don't think that the average consumer appreciates the right to repair the way we do. Sorry to say but I wonder sometimes if the consumer needs to have their face rubbed in it more instead of just benefiting off of 3rd party repairers who are doing all the heavy lifting on this issue.

Curious that only Au/NZ peeps have posted in this thread about something over there. Maybe it's the time zone. 

 

[Brumby]

Curious that only Au/NZ peeps have posted in this thread about something over there.

Posting here isn't what I would call particularly relevant.  Making their voice heard is.  Turning up on the day would be brilliant!

Maybe it's the time zone.

That or maybe it's "bloody foreigners!"

[tautech]

@ 1:32:xx of the maine video, the farmer says that in order to buy new farm equipment, he is asked to check a tick which says he is no longer allowed to repair his own farm equipment ...  ie : he must allow all his older equipment to be replaced even if they can be repaired.

wow

Well sort of.....he must use an authorised repair agent or void warranty.

[Brumby]

@ 1:32:xx of the maine video, the farmer says that in order to buy new farm equipment, he is asked to check a tick which says he is no longer allowed to repair his own farm equipment ...  ie : he must allow all his older equipment to be replaced even if they can be repaired.

wow

Sorry, I was looking at Louis' videos and I have to ask: which video?  ...and...  is that time stamp correct?

I only saw 1 Maine video long enough for that time stamp and the speaker didn't say anything about that.

[Ed.Kloonk]

@ 1:32:xx of the maine video, the farmer says that in order to buy new farm equipment, he is asked to check a tick which says he is no longer allowed to repair his own farm equipment ...  ie : he must allow all his older equipment to be replaced even if they can be repaired.

wow

Well sort of.....he must use an authorised repair agent or void warranty.

I heard about this a few weeks ago. This is concerning John Deere stuff, wasn't it?

All fun and games but the owners are apparently saying the equipment is being made with precarious long term durability.

Also, a news story last week popped up about Range Rover owners could void the warranty if they don't drive straight to the dealer when the check engine light comes on without explanation.

[tautech]

@ 1:32:xx of the maine video, the farmer says that in order to buy new farm equipment, he is asked to check a tick which says he is no longer allowed to repair his own farm equipment ...  ie : he must allow all his older equipment to be replaced even if they can be repaired.

wow

Well sort of.....he must use an authorised repair agent or void warranty.

I heard about this a few weeks ago. This is concerning John Deere stuff, wasn't it?

Yep and it's been a ongoing battle for a year or two.
There's a big thread somewhere here about the 'right to repair' if you wanna get up to speed.

[SilverSolder]

@ 1:32:xx of the maine video, the farmer says that in order to buy new farm equipment, he is asked to check a tick which says he is no longer allowed to repair his own farm equipment ...  ie : he must allow all his older equipment to be replaced even if they can be repaired.

wow

They want everything to turn into a stream of cash...  for them.   Farmer fixes equipment and saves money = benefit for the farmer and his family...  we can't allow that...

[vk6zgo]

 Wait till the first time a farmer sues a tractor company for megabucks citing loss of productive ability because instead of the equipment being repaired swiftly by a non-official repairer, it had to wait for the official one to attend from hundreds of miles away!