Dave5

There is a great Lupe Fiasco track called Dumb it Down. The first hook has the lyric:

You’ll sell more records if you (Dumb it down!)

That’s what the economy has been doing to us for the last 30 years (where ever software goes, it drags this virus with it). Making things unrepairable dumbs all of us down and sells more records. Making tech opaque prevents education, reuse and innovation. We taught our kids that everything is hackable… we have two fearless progeny. All kids should have that as a a basic starting point.

Signed a year ago but effective immediately! New York has just become to first state to implement broad, mandatory right-to-repair legislation for consumer products. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, if you can’t fix what you bought, you don’t own it.  If you buy an item but aren’t allowed to repair it, because of parts pairing, bricking or any number of nefarious techniques that companies have imposed on tech products in recent years, it’s not yours. It never was. Here’s looking at you, Apple, Tesla, John Deere and friends. New Yorkers now own what they buy! Mostly. Barring products not on the retail market or electronics purchased before July 1, 2024.