The Right to Repair Is Law in Washington State

> Side note: Be aware that baseless concerns like this echo propaganda against Right to Repair

Yup. When somebody insists you need "genuine OEM parts" insist in response that they specify what exactly it is you're getting. Most often "genuine" means the Chinese factory put these in a box that the OEM sold to you for $40 whereas the "not genuine" ones were from the same factory but they were $20, that's just worse value, not a superior product.

Once they tell you what the actual difference is - if there even is one - you can judge whether it's worth it. Your cable is 800Mbps and the cheap one is only 40Mbps? I want a charging cable, I don't move data over it, don't care. Your part is guaranteed for 3 years and the cheap one isn't? Now I'm interested, I never had one last more than 2 years so either you're buying me a replacement when that happens again or yours lasts longer, both are good outcomes.

Also be aware that the in the case of a TPM and fingerprint sensor there are some very important security guarantees that a part must make in order to preserve the security of the system. So it is not in fact scare mongering to try to get this right in the law and commenting about the difficulty of getting this right is not being infected by Apple follower talking points.

> Side note: Be aware that baseless concerns like this echo propaganda against Right to Repair. You might have been infected by some Apple follower talking points there.

"How dare you be anything less than blindly enthusiastic about this obviously good thing, you've clearly been tricked by someone evil."

Sorry, I can't parse the multiple negatives of "hopefully this doesn't mean they can't.." followed by "there's no such restriction".

I legitimately share the parent's concern. In a related matter, insurance companies are allowed to force me to accept non-OEM parts when my car is repaired. It sucks that someone can crash into me, and force me into taking sub-standard parts.

So there's nothing stopping them from having that pop up every single time you turn your phone screen on?

Given the support valve provides for the steam deck I'd be surprised if it was them. They seem much more interested in having a viable alternative to keep Microsoft from walling windows in such a way to kill steam than caring that they make the actual devices.

I would 100% percent expect both Microsoft & Nintendo to have had a hand in that though.

This is a result of there being a general consensus that video game consoles are "a thing" that we are all used to, and that the loosely-coupled movements of right-to-repair and antitrust are not seeking to disrupt the video game industry for fear of distracting from their larger goals.

It's an uneasy balance and it will be interesting to see where it goes once the dust settles on the current antitrust actions against big tech. I can't really think of a good reason why the iPhone should be a generalized computing device that is pryed open from Apple's clutches, while Nintendo, for example, can still run their own app store and would not be required to allow things like sideloading and root access while a smartphone manufacturer would. What makes one a computer, and the other an appliance?

(I'm saying this all as a right-to-repair and antitrust advocate, by the way)

I think a lot of this is a result of nostalgia, and a recognition that the business model of the video game industry has depended on this sort of control for a significantly longer than the personal computing industry. So no one really wants to kill Nintendo like they don't want to kill Mickey Mouse. Or, more cynically, no one really wants Nintendo and other video game behemoths to step into this fight on the other side, because going after Big Tech is hard enough as it is.

Valve already provides parts and documentation for the Steam Deck through a partnership with iFixit.

The bill actually says “at costs that are fair to both parties,” not “at cost” as in losing money. You’re arguing over what ChatGPT imagined the bill said (and GP posted without verification), not what it actually said.

IDK about "at cost" but shouldn't _some_ price regulation of spare parts be included? With no limits, any manufacturer might say "The price for any spare part is the cost of the original item + a significant additional fee, because our process will be to pull a complete new unit from the warehouse, and have someone disassemble it and send you the one part."

Actually this is probably the best way to ensure that price gouging does not happen. The fixed and NRE costs are already included in the price of the original device. Charging those again for replacements would be double-dipping. And the law still leaves it up to OEMs to decide how to cost the replacement, so there's some wiggle room there. This is an intelligently crafted bill.

To play devils advocate here, maybe the idea is that if the part is not eligible for third party sales by way of patents etc, then the manufacturer should not be allowed to simply charge more for a replacement part that that of a newer model?

That's the only kind of example I can think of.

> if we had disabled it (he can't even use it), it would've voided the entire warranty.

The Magnuson-Moss Act pretty surely falsifies that claim by the manufacturer.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnuson%E2%80%93Moss_Warran...

There is interest, but thanks to DMCA 1201 they put a thin veneer of encryption on it and suddenly it's a felony to make/use that third party tool.

The McDonald's stuff in particular is a red herring. Their requirements are contract requirements, put in place after too many franchisees tarnished their name with listeria outbreaks.

Normal on anything that has to work outside. Also, hardly an impediment to repair. I've done it myself on a car ECU: open case, scrape off conformal coating, desolder blown IGBT, replace with IGBT salvaged from junkyard unit, spray on new conformal coating, done - been working like that now for 5 years.

Parts pairing is also a/the reason you can't just swap in the junkyard unit even though it came from a car with the same engine. We tried it - did not work.

Potting within a brick of epoxy is the real dick move, but also not impossible to repair either.

Probably epoxy potted, an order of magnitude more difficult to repair. Either way a coating is probably called for in the places a generator will be used so you probably wouldn't want to skip it just for repairability.

Typically a generator is used outdoors, so it makes sense to protect the PCB and other electronics from conditions experienced there. I wouldn't know what those conditions are, being on Hacker News and all.

Detroit diesel two strokes were entirely mechanical. As were cummins engines like b5.9 with a bosch p-pump. In fact all diesel engines have fuel injection, and they were all mechanical up to the 80s/90s.

I assume you meant to say does not require a microcontroller, given that Bosch K is a mechanical FI system.

I think you’ll find “Hurt me plenty” is sufficient for all but the toughest baked on food stains.

It will be a patched Doom that doesn't let you upgrade or fix your armor.

If Samsung gets Doom to do LAN multiplayer with the coffee machine and the refrigerator, then they all deserve the title of video game console.

Anything connected to the internet ought to be a "Security system" and should therefore be exempt as well

I don't know if the assholes behind these restrictions are clever enough to think of that loophole. Thanks for giving them the idea!

No need for that much effort, just have a horde of lawyers convince lawmakers that dishwashers are actually medical devices, that help relieve wrist pain from doing the dishes. A bit of brib- lobbying might help the lawmakers understand if the arguments aren't enough.

.. just like every other carve out exception. Bribes.

Doesn't that include all home Starlink devices?

Lobbyists

Road vehicles should already be covered by existing right-to-repair rights, are they not? Otherwise, how would independent repair shops still exist?