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New York Senate passes Right to Repair bill

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Re: New York Senate passes Right to Repair bill

#21
post #15

If NY really wants to cut e-waste they should require removable batteries in cellphones and laptops. The move to non-removable batteries always seemed like a thinly veild money grab to me.

Standardized would be nice too. I have at least 3 laptops that could be put to good use but the batteries are no longer available, 2 of them don't even work with the plug unless there's a battery in there for some god awful reason.

The cells in the packs can be replaced.

Re: New York Senate passes Right to Repair bill

#22
I think right to repair bills could be important, but I think they should also cover cases where the physical device is fine, but the company is no longer running a service, or sending security updates. In these cases, "repair" should include the ability to run different firmware etc.

Re: New York Senate passes Right to Repair bill

#23

Normally the next step would be a vote on an identical bill in the state’s Assembly. But Thursday is the last day of session for the NY legislature, and the bill has not yet escaped committee, making a vote by the full Assembly unlikely. The battle for fair repair in New York will continue into next year’s session, with a strong record of success. So eventually... maybe.

We aren't even at the half way point of the year and this is already the end of the years session? In a large state like NY? How does anything get done? This isn't some small town in the middle of nowhere.

Re: New York Senate passes Right to Repair bill

#24
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a fan of conspiracy theories, but I do wonder about the idea that by making the power source impossible to remove, the phone can be a surveillance device even when the user thinks it's powered off. I wonder what the minds of HN think about this scenario. Is the move towards non-removable batteries perhaps related to this? I also wonder about the movement away from physical headphone jacks....I imagine bluetoo…

Let’s just engage this for a moment. The first thing to ask if we think that the non removable batteries is related to surveillance is how a non removable battery would help surveillance. And it’s hard to see how it would. The vast majority of people would leave their removable batteries in the phone with it on anyways, since they don’t expect the surveillance. The next level of paranoid people would switch off the p…

"a completely explainable, and frankly oredictable, trajectory and goal that ked to... changes such as the removing of the headphone jack, etc." Bad taste? Narcissistic corporate executives... with impractically bad taste?

:-) Yeah, no need to go to a conspiracy theory with no rational basis or factual evidence when stupidity,greed, incompetence or a combination thereof will explain the result. It seems to me that these kinds of theories only build up the power and influence of those petty industrial tyrants to the detriment of all.

Still, cold comfort to those of us who have lost the replaceable battery option and dread the day headphone jacks disappear forever.

Re: New York Senate passes Right to Repair bill

#25

Not really related but ifixit really is fantastic. I’ve fixed so many things I had no business being able to fix on my own thanks to their guides and videos. I wish more people would turn to their site before throwing stuff away.

I've had great success with iFixit guids too. 2 iPhones and a iPad. But I've been a bit weary of doing that since last time I got a screen where the connection wires that came with it weren't quite right and caused the iPad to get hot enough to burn skin and cause heat warnings from the OS. In that case, it was possible to reuse the original connector to fix the issue, but my trust in third-party parts diminished quite a bit.

Re: New York Senate passes Right to Repair bill

#26

Normally the next step would be a vote on an identical bill in the state’s Assembly. But Thursday is the last day of session for the NY legislature, and the bill has not yet escaped committee, making a vote by the full Assembly unlikely. The battle for fair repair in New York will continue into next year’s session, with a strong record of success. So eventually... maybe.

We aren't even at the half way point of the year and this is already the end of the years session? In a large state like NY? How does anything get done? This isn't some small town in the middle of nowhere.

> We aren't even at the half way point of the year and this is already the end of the years session?

We have a part-time legislature. The other half of the year lets our politicians earn a living outside politics (as well as politick--it's an election year.)

Our Governor is powerful. If an emergency arises, I believe the Assembly and Senate can be called back into session. But that's rarely required.

Re: New York Senate passes Right to Repair bill

#27

If NY really wants to cut e-waste they should require removable batteries in cellphones and laptops. The move to non-removable batteries always seemed like a thinly veild money grab to me.

Politicians use e-waste as the reason use for these RTR bills, but my concern is simple. I'm tired of my closet of broken devices. I don't like spending money on a new item when I was happy with the old model. I am tired of not seeing all the trouble codes on my car when it breaks down. I don't like spending money on electronics because a company won't let me fix their product, restricts information, or spare parts.…

My work want to force me to update my PERSONAL phone because apple do not support very old Iphone anymore. ( they gave me another phone for work stuff, 2FA and what not... )

this old phone works really well still. I do not conduct any work related activities on it. But they see it as a attack vector I guess?

Re: New York Senate passes Right to Repair bill

#28
If I loosely quote Louis Rossmann, one of the issue of right to repair is that more and more companies (Apple leading the trend) are using slightly modified chips from manufacturers, and them make then sign contracts that prevent any part selling to anyone.

So technically even you can replace those chips, you can't buy them.

And next Apple if putting serial numbers to prevent that even if you get the part, you will have a non-functional device.

This bill does not appear to address that.

Besides, the "information they need to repair" is also where the devil will be. Companies like Apple provide instructions on how to unscrew the laptop cover with a screwdriver (literally), but won't provide any data sheets.

Re: New York Senate passes Right to Repair bill

#29
post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let’s just engage this for a moment. The first thing to ask if we think that the non removable batteries is related to surveillance is how a non removable battery would help surveillance. And it’s hard to see how it would. The vast majority of people would leave their removable batteries in the phone with it on anyways, since they don’t expect the surveillance. The next level of paranoid people would switch off the p…

>Let’s just engage this for a moment. Please no.

Understand your reaction, but I think engaging like that is more effective in dispelling a conspiracy theory than shooting it down.

Re: New York Senate passes Right to Repair bill

#30

Normally the next step would be a vote on an identical bill in the state’s Assembly. But Thursday is the last day of session for the NY legislature, and the bill has not yet escaped committee, making a vote by the full Assembly unlikely. The battle for fair repair in New York will continue into next year’s session, with a strong record of success. So eventually... maybe.

We aren't even at the half way point of the year and this is already the end of the years session? In a large state like NY? How does anything get done? This isn't some small town in the middle of nowhere.

Texas is every 2 years from what I understand.
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