Manufacturers Oppose Electronics Right-to-Repair Bills, But State Efforts Persist
Efforts to write state “right to repair” laws for consumer electronics won’t die, despite running into walls in many jurisdictions, said lawmakers and consumer groups who support requiring manufacturers to share more information about hardware to product owners and third-party repair shops. Opposition lobbying was “bigger and stronger” than supporters', with many bills “quietly stashed away,” but the number of states with bills is growing, said Justin Brookman, director of Consumer Reports’ advocacy arm, Consumers Union. The bills have good intentions but would produce unintended consequences, said Josh Zecher, executive director of industry coalition Security Innovation Center, with partners including CTA, CompTIA and CTIA.
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No states passed right-to-repair bills for consumer electronics, but more than 15 offered bills and Vermont House members Friday passed a bill to further research the issue. An Illinois proposal failed but got further than others. A New York state effort is still alive, said Brookman, who forwarded us a supportive Feb. 26 letter by Consumers Union to Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle (D). Consumer advocates said California may move a bill next year.
“There are very concentrated and sophisticated lobbies that represent the interest of the manufacturers to maintain their monopolies,” said Electronic Frontier Foundation staff attorney Kit Walsh in an interview. The issue can also seem technically complex, so more education could make lawmakers more comfortable with bills, she said. Consumer awareness is low, said Illinois PIRG State Director Abe Scarr in an interview: “While it’s a problem that many people deal with,” particularly with cellphones, “it’s not something they understand is a political problem.” More time and argument will expose opponents’ misinformation about bills, said Brookman: “Sometimes these things take a few years.” Privacy advocates and a technology think tank dismissed industry’s security concerns (see 1710040049).
Tech industry groups warned that right-to-repair bills could allow improper tinkering with a user’s device by unauthorized repair shops. "Adopting these policies would be a gift to cybercriminals and weaken states' economic growth, and policymakers across the country have wisely rejected them," said TechNet Vice President-State Policy Andrea Deveau. State or federal policy should balance “allowing consumers to repair their devices and protecting our collective privacy and security,” Zecher emailed. “Simply enabling anyone to have the digital keys open up these devices for repair and changes cannot be the solution. Instead, we must ensure that consumers and others have plentiful options to repair their products in a way that doesn’t compromise the broader security of our digital networks.”
“Historically, the bills advance through one chamber, but die in the other chamber,” but their number is growing, emailed American Legislative Exchange Council Communications and Technology Task Force Director Jonathon Hauenschild. “Eventually, one of the policies will pass.”
Vermont’s bill to establish a task force to weigh possible right-to-repair legislation moved closer to enaction after House passage Friday. The Senate previously passed the bill but must OK House amendments. Smoothing out differences between chambers could happen by Friday, said sponsor Vermont State Sen. Chris Pearson (P/D). Pearson introduced SB-180 “to start a conversation in Vermont,” he emailed. “We are a frugal, rural state with a tradition of self-reliance. We have also worked hard to avoid sending appliances and electronics to the landfill.”
The bill started life in December as a full right-to-repair bill, but lawmakers scaled it back to the task force language in March. Legislators found the issue thornier than expected, Pearson told us. Vermont legislators “often do this for complex issues,” Pearson said. “Our session is only four months long each year so it can be helpful to have work carried out when we are out of session.” Establishing the task force will “lay the groundwork for next year,” he said.
An Illinois bill got close. “We hit the wall after the bill got out of committee” and onto the House floor, emailed state Rep. David Harris (R). The lawmaker resolved concerns with HB-4747 by John Deere and Caterpillar -- big interests in the agricultural state -- by accepting an amendment to exempt farm equipment, he said. But Harris ran out of time to resolve a fight between medical device manufacturers seeking exemption and hospitals concerned about losing their ability to repair medical devices. Also, CompTIA, TechNet, CTIA, the Information Technology Industry Council and others filed witness slips and sent an April 11 letter to Harris opposing the bill. “Others will have to try again next year,” said Harris, who's retiring.
Consumer electronics groups opposed the Illinois bill, “but I did not sense a working of the members the way Deere and Cat initially were,” Harris said. The consumer electronics industry “mostly kept its head down” and let the agricultural and medical device makers do the fighting, said Scarr. The bill got further this year than the previous session when it didn’t escape committee, he said. Harris won’t return next year, but there were seven other House members, including one Republican, who supported this year’s bill and could carry next year’s attempt, Scarr said.
“With access to technical information, criminals can more easily circumvent security protections, harming not only the product owner but also everyone who shares their network,” tech industry groups wrote about the Illinois bill in the April 11 letter to Harris, forwarded to us by CTIA. “In an era of sophisticated cyber attacks, we should not make it easier for criminals to hack security provisions.” By authorizing repair facilities, manufacturers can ensure repairs meet their standards, industry said.