What They Say
Scientific American has set out, in an article by the CEO of iFixit, some of the barriers to repairs that US law has put in the way of enabling repairs to devices. The point of contention is a section of US copyright law, Section 1201 which makes it illegal to develop technology to disable or defeat ‘technological protective measures’ (TPM). The issue the article highlights is that such TPM are used by Sony and Microsoft to block the replacement of optical disk drives. Although US law allows exceptions to be made and a team last year appealed for an exception to cover those devices and was successful, with the patent office saying that it is legal to break software locks for the purposes of “diagnosis, maintenance, and repair” on any “software-enabled device that is primarily designed for use by consumers,” as well as on vehicles, marine vessels and medical devices.
However, as the patent office doesn’t allow the distribution of tools that can help with this, so every repairer would have to be a ‘code breaker’.
What We Think
The ‘right to repair’ movement does seem to be gathering some momentum, still. This article gives a good explanation of the legal situation in the US. (BR)
