WEBVTT - TechStuff Tidbits: An Update on Right to Repair 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to Tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:15.520 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:18.680 I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio. And how 0:00:18.800 --> 0:00:22.279 the tech are you? I think I'm gonna do a 0:00:22.320 --> 0:00:25.799 little tech stuff Tidbits episode. These episodes tend to be 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:28.920 a little shorter than aren't normal episodes. They tend to 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:31.840 be sometimes they're longer, but this one should be a 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:34.840 bit shorter. And it's about one of the ongoing stories 0:00:35.240 --> 0:00:38.360 in tech right now, which is the right to repair movement. 0:00:38.920 --> 0:00:41.000 And I've talked about this a few times on this show, 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:43.000 so this is really more of a kind of a 0:00:43.080 --> 0:00:46.920 state of the right to repair movement in the United States. 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:50.279 One of the stories I mentioned in yesterday's news episodes 0:00:50.400 --> 0:00:53.880 was about this very topic. So the basic idea behind 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:58.680 right to repair is this, when a consumer buys something 0:00:58.880 --> 0:01:04.440 a product, that product should be reparable by the consumer, 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:09.479 or the consumer should be reasonably able to make their 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:14.080 own repairs, perform maintenance, or even change it something about 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:17.440 the product because they bought it, right, they bought the thing, 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:20.880 they should be able to repair the thing or change 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:23.400 the thing because the product at that point is no 0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:27.520 longer the property of the manufacturer or the retailer or 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:30.360 anything like that. It belongs to the consumer. It is 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:34.680 there thing the transaction has concluded, and if the product 0:01:34.720 --> 0:01:37.399 requires some TLC down the line, the consumers should be 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:41.040 able to do it themselves or choose whomever they want 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:45.200 to do the work, because it's theirs. But that's not 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:49.000 how a lot of tech product companies have evolved. Especially 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:52.800 in recent years. Many companies have embraced the idea of 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:58.640 an entire ecosystem, from product to maintenance to repair. Capturing 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:02.280 a customer in such an go system creates an ongoing 0:02:02.480 --> 0:02:05.640 source of revenue, and you can see how that would 0:02:05.640 --> 0:02:09.520 be attractive from a business perspective. In fact, we're gonna 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:13.000 break it down just for funzies. Let's say we've got 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:16.760 a company that makes widgets and it has two broad 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:21.520 strategies it could choose between. Strategy Number one is to 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:25.160 make the best gosh darn widgets in the world and 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:28.560 to sell them to customers with pride. And every person 0:02:28.639 --> 0:02:32.360 walking into your widget store represents an opportunity for a sale, 0:02:32.720 --> 0:02:35.840 and each sale represents the one and only revenue point 0:02:36.040 --> 0:02:38.919 with that customer, unless, of course, the customer decides to 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:41.919 come back to you for their future widget needs. It's 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:45.080 not easy work, but by golly, it sure is wholesome 0:02:45.160 --> 0:02:49.200 and rewarding. If that customer's widget breaks, well, the customer 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:51.880 has every right to fix it themselves, or to take 0:02:51.919 --> 0:02:55.280 it to an independent repair shop. Or maybe they'll come 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:57.440 back to you and buy a brand new widget with 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:01.360 the latest features. But your business lies on sales, and 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:05.280 that's pretty much it. Strategy number two. You have set 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:09.760 up an entire widget ecosystem. You own the means of production. 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:14.760 Maybe you own retail establishments that sell finished products. Maybe 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:19.000 there's a widget store in every major city, including flagship 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:22.160 widget stores in places like New York or San Francisco. 0:03:22.680 --> 0:03:26.440 Inside those stores, you've also created customer service departments. Let's 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:30.280 call them the bar of smarty pants is. And if 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:34.240 a customer buys a widget and something goes wrong with it, well, 0:03:34.320 --> 0:03:37.120 you create a policy that discourages the customer from trying 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:40.760 to fix the widget themselves. Maybe you indicate that any 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:44.920 such attempt will avoid the warranty, and that will leave 0:03:44.960 --> 0:03:47.680 the customer high and dry if something else happens that 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:51.280 they are not able to address themselves. Maybe you make 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:54.400 the widget with special kinds of fasteners and you're the 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:57.840 only one who has the appropriate tools to remove them. 0:03:57.920 --> 0:04:01.000 Using some other tool is likely to damn the widget further, 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:04.760 and so your customers desperate to have a working widget 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:08.560 come crawling to your store, lining up at the bar 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:11.440 of smartie pants is for their turn to have someone 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:14.640 who actually does have access to the proper tools to 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:19.120 make the changes, and the customers pay for this privilege. Heck, 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:22.279 maybe you even set up a program where the customer 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:26.560 can pay in advance for services that they may never need, 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:30.320 and maybe you even call it something really ironic like 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:35.480 widget cares. Now, with strategy one, you make money from 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:38.400 a customer once or to be generous once per sale, 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:40.839 since if the customers happy, they might come back to 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:43.960 buy another one of your widgets later on. But each 0:04:44.000 --> 0:04:50.039 transaction is isolated and finite. But with strategy too, you've 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:53.120 looped that customer into a system where you can potentially 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:57.400 make money off them multiple times, all from one purchase. 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:00.680 So of course a lot of company these are going 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:03.760 to go in that direction. It helps the company, but 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:06.440 it can be potentially harmful or at the very least 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:11.520 inconvenient to the customer. And for independent repair shops, it's 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:14.680 really bad news because in order to be part of 0:05:14.720 --> 0:05:18.359 this ecosystem, they would likely have to pay a hefty 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:23.120 licensing fee to be welcomed into the fold. So either 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:26.920 your your options then as an independent repair service person 0:05:27.560 --> 0:05:30.320 are to either pay money so that you can be 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:33.359 part of this world or not pay the money, but 0:05:33.400 --> 0:05:36.240 then you miss out on a lot of repairs because 0:05:36.240 --> 0:05:40.640 of that. And in a big way, technology is facilitating 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:44.440 this trend. It's not just a business practice. The technology 0:05:44.440 --> 0:05:47.480 itself is making this easier to do because as technology 0:05:47.520 --> 0:05:51.400 gets more complex, you know, as products get more computerized, 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:54.880 it gets more challenging for the average person or even 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:59.159 some smaller repair shops to work on products effectively. Some 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:02.720 products but come what we call black boxes, and by 0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:05.839 that we mean there is a lack of transparency. You 0:06:05.920 --> 0:06:09.560 cannot see how the device actually works. You could say 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:12.800 a lot of modern cars fall into this category. Now 0:06:12.800 --> 0:06:16.320 where even to get a diagnosis of whatever the problem is, 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:18.920 you need to have a specialized computer to connect to 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:21.360 your vehicle, as well as a knowledge of what all 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:25.520 those error codes mean. And stuff like repair manuals can 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:29.000 be well kept secrets in tech, meaning you might not 0:06:29.040 --> 0:06:31.560 be able to access the documents you would need to 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:33.719 see how to go about making a repair in the 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:37.000 first place. The only folks who have access to these 0:06:37.040 --> 0:06:39.960 documents and the tools and the parts are the people 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:43.839 who are already part of this ecosystem. Now, in some cases, 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:47.840 customers can still attempt to do their own maintenance and repair, 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:51.520 though they might have to jump through some arguably unnecessary 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:54.039 hoops to do it. But in other cases, as I 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:57.680 mentioned earlier, even attempting to do anything like that will 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:01.479 violate the warranty on a product. Companies say they do 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:04.400 this to discourage folks from causing further damage to their 0:07:04.440 --> 0:07:10.239 devices by also to avoid sidestepping safety features that could 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:13.760 bring harm to people anything that might be bad that 0:07:13.800 --> 0:07:17.239 could come as a result of tampering with a device. 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:22.360 But the right to repair advocates argue that really this 0:07:22.800 --> 0:07:26.000 policy isn't to protect the consumer, it's a threat the 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:30.200 companies hold over customers to keep them within these closed 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:35.600 ecosystems so that they can continue to exploit their customer base. Now, 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:38.280 I'm not sure if you picked up on my subtle 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:42.200 hints in my example earlier, but I was firing some 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:45.440 shots at Apple and I know I'm a master of 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:49.200 the veiled reference right. Anyway, Apple for a long time 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:53.000 had a reputation for locking people into an ecosystem in 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:57.080 multiple ways. They actually did it in a few different approaches. 0:07:57.520 --> 0:08:00.880 So in one way, it was that whole maintenance and 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:04.440 repair strategy in which for many years Apple did it's 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:10.120 best to discourage or outright prevent customers from accessing and 0:08:10.200 --> 0:08:14.440 changing Apple products that they purchased. But it also extended 0:08:14.480 --> 0:08:17.960 to the interoperability of Apple products, where in order to 0:08:18.080 --> 0:08:21.800 get the most out Apple product A, you also needed 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:25.600 Apple product B. So, for example, when the iPod first 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:29.240 came out, initially you really needed a Mac in order 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:32.280 to set up the iPod and transfer music from your 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:35.480 computer to the iPod because you couldn't do it just 0:08:35.559 --> 0:08:39.600 from the iPod itself. It wasn't, you know, uh, wireless. 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:42.520 You couldn't connect it to WiFi or anything like that. 0:08:43.120 --> 0:08:45.599 You had to pair it with a computer, and that 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:48.440 computer initially had to be a Mac. Now, over time, 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:52.679 Apple created ways for folks who had Windows based PCs 0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:55.319 to do the same sort of thing, though in my experience, 0:08:55.360 --> 0:08:59.920 the PC version of Apple products always felt clunky and bloated. 0:09:00.559 --> 0:09:03.200 And you might think, well, was this just a way 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:05.600 for Apple to try and nudge people to purchase a 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:10.160 Mac as their next computer. Because within the ecosystem things 0:09:10.240 --> 0:09:14.520 worked great. It only started to really get cumbersome once 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:18.000 you were starting to step outside that ecosystem. Now, I 0:09:18.040 --> 0:09:22.439 don't know if Apple was purposefully trying to make Windows 0:09:22.520 --> 0:09:27.360 based software worse on purpose, but I wouldn't be surprised 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:30.520 if that were true. It's it's entirely possible that it 0:09:30.600 --> 0:09:33.840 was just that's just how it developed and it wasn't intentional, 0:09:34.280 --> 0:09:37.800 But I also wouldn't be shocked if it were intentional. Anyway, 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:40.760 that's getting off track a little bit. It's related to 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:44.199 what we're talking about, but not directly about it. So 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:47.840 Apple as a company was really looking at ways to 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:52.720 extend revenue generation through hardware because that's what the company 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:56.400 was primarily. It was a hardware company, and it made 0:09:56.480 --> 0:10:00.360 computers and B three players and smartphones and tablets. So 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:05.000 most of its revenue generation strategies related to the production, 0:10:05.600 --> 0:10:08.840 the selling, the maintenance and the repair of those pieces 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:13.880 of hardware. But last year Apple launched a self service 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:17.840 repair store, and through this store, Apple customers can access 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:23.040 repair manuals, they can order genuine Apple tools and parts, 0:10:23.480 --> 0:10:27.480 and they can make their own repairs to their own purchases. 0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:31.040 The company gradually rolled out support for various Apple products, 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:34.520 starting with the Iphoe twelve and thirteen lineups, So it 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:39.000 doesn't cover everything Apple makes, but it is gradually covering 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:43.080 more and more products that Apple has produced. All Right, 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:46.719 we're gonna talk more about why Apple did this and 0:10:46.760 --> 0:10:49.920 how it works when we come back from this quick break. 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:01.760 We're back. So before the break, I mentioned that Apple 0:11:01.840 --> 0:11:04.760 had rolled out a self service repair store last year, 0:11:04.800 --> 0:11:06.560 and you might think, well, why would Apple do that? 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:10.000 There are a couple of different reasons. One reason is 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:12.680 that there has been this rise in the right to 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:18.280 repair movement, and it's it's a tide that's slowly gaining 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:22.079 some ground in the industry, and some companies like Apple 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:24.400 might be trying to get ahead of that to make 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:28.920 sure that they're not caught unawares when or if this 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:32.600 ends up becoming you know, law in various places. So 0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:35.160 they're getting ahead of the game. But another one is 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:38.400 that for the last several years, Tim Cook has really 0:11:38.440 --> 0:11:44.880 been pivoting Apple to become more of a service oriented company. 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:48.240 So it still makes hardware and still sells it obviously, 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:54.960 but Tim Cook has really focused on making services a 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:58.040 major part this major source of revenue for the company, 0:11:58.280 --> 0:12:01.400 and the company has done very well as a result 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:05.720 of that, although there has been more recent resistance to 0:12:05.800 --> 0:12:10.480 that approach to but you could argue, well, one reason 0:12:10.520 --> 0:12:14.880 Apple can ease off on the whole ecosystem thing is 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:19.480 because it has found a different avenue for generating money, 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:24.440 so it's not like it's taking an enormous hit. Another 0:12:24.520 --> 0:12:28.320 reason is that the self service repair store it's not 0:12:28.480 --> 0:12:32.280 exactly something that the average person is going to take 0:12:32.320 --> 0:12:35.560 advantage of. So a customer wanting to repair their own, 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:40.760 say iPhone twelve, can use the self service repair store 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:44.800 to get access to the repair manual, they can identify 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:47.520 the parts and tools they'll need to perform the specific 0:12:47.520 --> 0:12:51.600 repair they're interested in. Then they can order those tools 0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:55.959 and parts from Apple itself. And Apple promises that it 0:12:56.040 --> 0:12:59.200 will send out the same quality parts and tools that 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:03.840 it would provide to officially licensed Apple repair providers. So 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:06.600 it's not like the self repair folks are going to get, 0:13:06.720 --> 0:13:08.960 you know, cheap knockoffs. They're going to get the real thing. 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:12.120 And this was a pretty darn darn big change for 0:13:12.120 --> 0:13:16.319 the company. Uh and I think the reason why they 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:19.160 feel comfortable doing it is they really don't expect most 0:13:19.200 --> 0:13:22.560 customers to actually go the self repair route. It turns 0:13:22.559 --> 0:13:25.920 out the specialized tools that Apple has developed do not 0:13:26.240 --> 0:13:30.200 come cheap, and unless you are running your own repair business, 0:13:31.000 --> 0:13:33.760 it starts to get hard to justify the expense. So, 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:38.600 for example, Apple has a display press. It looks a 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:42.319 bit like a major printing press, and it's, as the 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:45.840 name would indicate, its purpose is to help install a 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:50.520 display in an iPhone. This is a tricky and delicate job, 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:53.680 so the press on its own, which is just one 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:57.800 tool you would need to do a display replacement within 0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:02.600 an iPhone, costs more than two dollars. So when you 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:04.880 start looking at the cost of repairs, it can get 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:07.800 to a point where it would make more sense financially 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:10.480 to bring the device into an Apple store and have 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:13.439 it repaired there, or to bring it to a licensed 0:14:13.480 --> 0:14:17.199 Apple repair shop, because you'd be likely to spend less 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:22.000 money going through Apple's ecosystem anyway. Then if you try 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:26.120 to sidestep it. Now, Apple does allow customers to rent 0:14:26.560 --> 0:14:30.120 a toolkit that contains most of the tools you would need, 0:14:30.160 --> 0:14:32.440 but apparently not all of them according to at least 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:35.560 some of the reviews I've read, and that would cost 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:39.400 forty nine dollars each time you rented the toolkit. So 0:14:39.520 --> 0:14:42.880 for some repairs, the rental plus the cost of replacement 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:45.640 parts might squeak in under the amount that you would 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:48.840 spend at a repair shop. But then you start asking 0:14:48.880 --> 0:14:51.760 yourself if it makes more sense to just go with 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:55.200 the experts and spend a little bit more without having 0:14:55.200 --> 0:14:57.600 to worry about doing the whole thing yourself, because there's 0:14:57.640 --> 0:15:01.360 also the investment of time and effort, and if you've 0:15:01.400 --> 0:15:04.160 never done it before, there's a really good chance that 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:07.240 you're not going to get it exactly right first time 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:10.080 out the gate. So that's a lot of trial and 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:12.400 error as well, and a lot of frustrations. You started 0:15:12.440 --> 0:15:15.120 asking yourself, well, is it worth it or should I 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:18.600 just go to the Apple store anyway. On top of that, 0:15:18.920 --> 0:15:22.680 I've read some articles in which journalists attempted to use 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:24.960 the self repair system to do some work on their 0:15:24.960 --> 0:15:27.920 own devices, and they found it really difficult to do. 0:15:28.400 --> 0:15:32.560 The jobs can be really delicate and precise and complicated, 0:15:32.600 --> 0:15:35.320 and sometimes you have to do stuff like use a 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:38.920 certain amount of force to open a case, but if 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:42.240 you use too much, you could break the thing. So 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:44.880 it's tricky and a lot of articles I've read had 0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:47.680 headlines that were similar to I tried to repair my 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:51.680 own iPhone and it was a disaster. But still Apples 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:56.720 change means you aren't reliant solely upon the Apple Genius 0:15:56.760 --> 0:16:01.400 bar or Apple service stores to get your Apple products repaired. 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:05.400 You could take it to an independent shop that could 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:07.320 handle it for you, and that's where you might end 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:09.960 up saving money. If the independent shop has invested in 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:14.440 the parts and the tools, because over time they're gonna 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:18.880 do enough repair jobs to pay off that investment, then 0:16:19.360 --> 0:16:22.320 that might be the best bet. So you do still 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:26.200 have more options if you find a good independent repair 0:16:26.240 --> 0:16:29.840 store that is not an official Apple store. That is 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:33.800 an improvement. Now, yesterday I talked about a company that 0:16:33.920 --> 0:16:36.840 has long had a history of locking down products, and 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:39.880 this time it's John Deer. This is the company that's 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:43.840 best known for stuff like lawn mowers and farm equipment. Now, 0:16:43.880 --> 0:16:46.360 over the years, John Deer has made their products more 0:16:46.400 --> 0:16:50.080 difficult to access and repair, urging farmers to take equipment 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:53.600 to licensed John Deer Service centers. They do this through 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:56.800 lots of different means. A lot of them are software related, 0:16:57.280 --> 0:17:00.720 because there actually are lots of sophisticated geter systems on 0:17:00.800 --> 0:17:04.280 John Deer equipment, and the software has meant both to 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:09.920 enable features and to kind of lock stuff behind John 0:17:09.960 --> 0:17:13.960 dear proprietary software so that you have to go to 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:17.200 one of these licensed service centers in order to get 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:21.560 any maintenance or repair performed on your equipment. Now, that's 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:25.400 not necessarily the most convenient or cost effective option for farmers, 0:17:25.640 --> 0:17:29.080 assuming that they had the chance to go somewhere else. 0:17:29.640 --> 0:17:32.160 If you lock them into a system that could require 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:34.879 them to travel further and spend more money just to 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:38.720 get their equipment to a service center, that's pretty brutal. 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:43.680 But recently, John Deer signed a memorandum of Understanding or 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:50.520 MoU with an organization representing American farmers that will loosen 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:55.480 these restrictions a bit. Now, farmers and independent repair shops 0:17:55.480 --> 0:17:58.879 will be allowed to access repair manuals, they'll be able 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:02.480 to get proper to rules and replacement parts, but there 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:07.040 are some restrictions here. One of those is that farmers 0:18:07.200 --> 0:18:10.520 and repair shops are not supposed to reveal any John 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:16.119 dear trade secrets. So if the repair involves accessing materials 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:19.280 that would reveal such things, they may not be able 0:18:19.359 --> 0:18:22.040 to get access to that, and they may still have 0:18:22.119 --> 0:18:24.920 to go to a John Deer service center, or they 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:29.359 are obligated not to reveal any proprietary information. I don't 0:18:29.359 --> 0:18:34.480 know how you enforce that. Another more insidious requirement is 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:38.159 that the m OU calls for the farming organization to 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:43.800 tell farmers to quote refrain from introducing, promoting, or supporting 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:48.640 federal or state right to repair legislation that imposes obligations 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:53.439 beyond the commitments in this m OU end quote. So 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:57.960 that is a big red flag, right. They're saying, hey, 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:00.600 this should be good enough, and if it's not good enough, 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:03.720 you need to tell farmers don't ask for something better, 0:19:04.400 --> 0:19:06.399 because we don't want to deal with that. Like the 0:19:06.640 --> 0:19:09.760 John Deer is essentially saying, knock it off with the 0:19:09.840 --> 0:19:12.560 right to repair stuff. We don't want it to become law. 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:15.800 And this this is what has critics saying that the 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:20.359 m O you isn't really significant progress, that John Deer 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:23.480 might hold back on stuff by arguing that it falls 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:26.480 under trade secrets, and that the company is also trying 0:19:26.520 --> 0:19:29.600 to hamstring any efforts for right to repair advocates to 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:33.080 get laws passed that would require companies like John Dear 0:19:33.280 --> 0:19:36.920 to knock that kind of stuff off. And yeah, that 0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:41.880 does look pretty bad. Okay, when we come back, I'm 0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:45.399 gonna talk briefly about a recent law past in New 0:19:45.520 --> 0:19:50.879 York that ostensibly extends the right to repair, but in 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:54.880 reality there are a lot of problems with it. But first, 0:19:54.920 --> 0:20:07.720 let's take this quick break. Okay, we're back. So while 0:20:07.760 --> 0:20:10.399 all this stuff is going on, late last year, we 0:20:10.520 --> 0:20:14.280 had New York passed a right to repair law sort of, 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:16.920 and I say sort of because by the time the 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:23.480 law actually was passed, it had been neutered quite a bit. 0:20:23.600 --> 0:20:27.880 It had been whittled back. So on December two thousand 0:20:27.920 --> 0:20:30.640 twenty two, the Governor of New York signed into law 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:35.280 the Digital Fair Repair Act. And this act was intended 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:39.360 to give consumers more options when repairing the tech stuff 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:42.639 they had purchased. By that, I mean tech stuff as 0:20:42.680 --> 0:20:47.280 in like gadgets and whatnot. Not this podcast. It's not 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:51.520 for sale, though I do have reasonable rates. However, as 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:54.040 the bill was making its way to the finish line, 0:20:54.560 --> 0:20:59.600 in swept some amendments that effectively took the strength out 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:03.120 of the legislation. So, for example, one amendment says that 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:07.160 original equipment manufacturers or o e m s will not 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:10.600 be required to hand over anything that would allow someone 0:21:10.640 --> 0:21:14.760 to bypass security features on a product. But sometimes that's 0:21:14.800 --> 0:21:18.000 exactly what you need to perform a repair, right, Like 0:21:18.040 --> 0:21:21.320 if you have a device that's locked but otherwise would 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:24.240 work fine, the one thing you need to do is 0:21:24.280 --> 0:21:27.600 bypass the security feature. But the amendment means that companies 0:21:27.640 --> 0:21:30.560 are not obligated to share that information at all, and 0:21:30.600 --> 0:21:32.480 so customers might find that they still have to go 0:21:32.520 --> 0:21:34.960 through the ecosystem to get stuff done. Now, on the 0:21:35.000 --> 0:21:39.320 one hand, you can understand why security features should not 0:21:39.359 --> 0:21:42.639 be bypassed. Right If you know how to bypass a 0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:47.080 device is security, then arguably you could use that knowledge 0:21:47.119 --> 0:21:49.959 to do it on devices that you don't own, and 0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:54.600 that you're compromising other people's privacy and security as a process. 0:21:54.640 --> 0:21:57.920 So in that regard, it is understandable, right you want 0:21:58.000 --> 0:22:02.879 that security to be preserved. Apple has long tried to 0:22:03.040 --> 0:22:07.120 preserve security against agencies like the FBI that have been 0:22:07.240 --> 0:22:10.200 arguing that they need a way to bypass security features 0:22:10.200 --> 0:22:13.520 in order to access the contents of devices they have 0:22:14.160 --> 0:22:18.440 uh taken from suspects of crimes and such. So yeah, 0:22:18.480 --> 0:22:23.040 you can understand why there is a need to preserve security. 0:22:23.080 --> 0:22:25.879 On the flip side, the worry is that o e 0:22:26.040 --> 0:22:29.000 M s could use this argument to cover stuff that 0:22:29.040 --> 0:22:32.919 maybe is only slightly related to security or privacy, just 0:22:33.040 --> 0:22:37.800 to prevent a larger number of self repair or independent 0:22:37.800 --> 0:22:42.040 repair shop jobs that otherwise could be done. The bill 0:22:42.119 --> 0:22:45.800 also allows o e M s to offer collections of 0:22:45.920 --> 0:22:51.560 parts rather than specific individual parts. So if you need 0:22:51.600 --> 0:22:54.760 to make a repair and you need some official part, 0:22:55.520 --> 0:22:57.879 you're not likely to be able to get just the 0:22:57.920 --> 0:22:59.960 thing you need. So let's say like you've got a 0:23:00.080 --> 0:23:03.040 cracked screen on a tablet and you want to order 0:23:03.160 --> 0:23:06.000 a new screen for this specific tablet. But everything else 0:23:06.080 --> 0:23:09.240 is fine, You've checked it out everything else, there's no 0:23:09.280 --> 0:23:12.280 other problems. However, the o e M only offers a 0:23:12.320 --> 0:23:16.600 collection of parts that includes the screen but also includes 0:23:16.720 --> 0:23:19.919 other stuff, and you can't order just the screen itself, 0:23:19.960 --> 0:23:21.800 so you have to spend more money because you've got 0:23:21.800 --> 0:23:25.159 to buy the whole collection, and then you've got all 0:23:25.200 --> 0:23:28.040 these spare parts cluttering up the place because you didn't 0:23:28.040 --> 0:23:30.520 need them. So In other words, this amendment can allow 0:23:30.560 --> 0:23:34.760 O e M s to make self repairs inconvenient and costly. 0:23:35.400 --> 0:23:38.200 The bill also has a bunch of exemptions on the 0:23:38.280 --> 0:23:41.919 types of tech that are covered by the right to 0:23:41.960 --> 0:23:46.960 repair law. For example, home appliances those are not covered 0:23:47.280 --> 0:23:49.760 by this right to repair legislation. So if you have 0:23:49.760 --> 0:23:52.840 a home appliance and it breaks, you're likely still going 0:23:52.880 --> 0:23:55.840 to have to go to the manufacturer for help because 0:23:56.800 --> 0:24:02.560 this law does not guarantee you any of or choice. Also, 0:24:02.640 --> 0:24:06.040 motor vehicles, those are not covered by this right to 0:24:06.080 --> 0:24:09.359 repair legislation, so if your car breaks down, well, you 0:24:09.560 --> 0:24:11.879 may have very little choice but to go to that 0:24:11.960 --> 0:24:16.199 extremely expensive service station at your local dealership. Also not 0:24:16.359 --> 0:24:19.960 covered are enterprise devices. I was sad to learn that 0:24:20.119 --> 0:24:24.200 enterprise devices are not things like transporters and photon torpedoes 0:24:24.240 --> 0:24:29.639 and replicators. No, an enterprise devices equipment that's intended for businesses, 0:24:29.800 --> 0:24:34.480 and the Verge reports that specifically enterprise devices used by 0:24:34.760 --> 0:24:38.280 organizations like data centers and hospitals and schools will not 0:24:38.359 --> 0:24:42.000 be covered by this legislation either. Now, the bill does 0:24:42.040 --> 0:24:45.919 show that there continues to be the steady push for 0:24:46.040 --> 0:24:49.359 right to repair in the United States. But the getting 0:24:49.440 --> 0:24:54.399 true sweeping legislation in place is proving to be a 0:24:54.480 --> 0:24:58.400 significant challenge, and there's no surprise there because tech companies 0:24:58.560 --> 0:25:02.360 tend to spend a lot of money on lobbying, and 0:25:02.520 --> 0:25:06.960 lobbyists can be really influential when it comes to politicians 0:25:07.200 --> 0:25:10.800