RIGHT to repair or CopyRIGHT?

Toyota's current practices on repair information (they retain copyright on the repair manuals and diagrams, but you can subscribe for an affordable rate and view them, and they use SAE standard protocols on their diagnostic port, and their Techstream software is also available for you to use, with an activation fee that's at least less than a typical dealer visit to read codes) seem to be pretty much what's required of them under the old (2012-ish) RTR law that was passed by Massachusetts. The manufacturers had been fighting RTR tooth-and-nail, and then when they saw Mass doing a law that wouldn't ask any more of them than that, they about-faced and got behind the Mass law to preempt other states doing anything more strict.

While nobody likes everything about the current arrangements, there are a lot of ways they could be worse, and they do at the very least underscore that open protocols and repair access are not inherently incompatible with copyright. It's possible to ensure the people who build and write the stuff can put food on the table, while also insisting that the stuff they build and write use protocols that are standardized and documented.

In the closed-source big-software world (commercial operating systems and database managers and stuff) there have long been some really weird licensing practices. Like, you pay a yearly fee for the use of the software ... now if you buy a faster computer, and move the software onto the faster hardware that you bought, your fee for using the software goes up ... because it's faster now.

 

i immediately thought of software, and isn't tesla planning on subscription based services or something?
great income stream if you can get it. in the end, all 'rights' are decided by government.

on the other side, most people think indy mechanic is the mom and pop shop. but that includes pep boys, firestone, goodyear and the lot. all big corporations eager to get the grubby hands on personal data the can sell to miners.

 

apples big money maker is battery replacement. and their batteries/battery management is horrendous.

the biggest problem with the rtr bill is that politicians don't understand it, people don't understand it.

and of course, you only get two choices, so one side has to lose

 

It seems to me that that way of formulating it creates the biggest likelihood of losing.

People who buy stuff want to be able to repair their stuff (or pay the mechanic of their choice to repair it).

Manufacturers want compensation for the development work that went into the stuff.

Everybody wants the stuff to be hard for "the wrong people" to hack. Owners don't want their cars taken over driving down the road, or their location data sold; manufacturers don't want to be on the hook when some owner's misbegotten mod sends the car off the road.

All of those things can be approached in ways that balance the legitimate interests.

It gets dicier when there are pretexts involved, like the manufacturers jumping on the "security" concern as a reason they "have to" lock everyone else out (even though the idea of saying your stuff is secure because you'll keep the bad guys from finding out what mistakes are in it has been shown to be a nutters idea again and again and again).

 

we had a pretty decent rtr law up until this one, and they probably need tweaking as tech develops. but this one is above and beyond sanity, because pols don't understand the tech, and they pander to whover will get them the most votes.
i realize that that is a generalization, but they need expert help in crafting these laws. it will never be perfect, or make everyone happy.

 

US farmers win right to repair John Deere equipment - BBC News

 

A Tank Breaks Down in the Field — The Soldier Can't Fix It: Congress Debates Whether Troops Should Be Allowed to Repair Their Own Gear

 

We kinda had this problem when I started working in the hospital I eventually retired from. We had a clause in our purchase contract that stated every OEM vendor must supply us with two operations and one service manual for anything they sell us. That clause was rarely enforced; but I enforced it. After about 6 or 7 years in; I started withholding payment and for those vendors that refused to abide by the sales contract. Even told one vendor to come get their 5 million dollar turd or give us the manuals and software access rights. I even caught heat from the CEO and explained that their annual service contract is six figures, so we would be at their mercy as far as downtime and availability - since we wouldn't know how it's suppose to work, much less have a clue in how to fix it. Told him, he's the boss and he could easily sign-off and cut that annual check as long as it's not coming out of my budget.
It's kinda a moot point now, since all the genZ people, just phone-in for vendor repairs. Equipment downtime has tripled and all life support spares are never 100% operational anymore. After I left, they've gone thru 2 department managers in 18 months and the department budget has tripled. I was at another major department manager's retirement party last week, they were talking about doubling the spare backup equipment fleet, because of the repair delays.
IMHO; part of the reason health care cost keeps sky-rocketing.

 

Push-button upbringing, push-button solutions. The not-my-problem-late-for-golf-date crowd...

In at least my gen (I'm going to assume yours)... the assumption someone in your position were expected to possess proactive competence at putting out fires, and more importantly mgmt balls to support you, when comes to operational uptime in a goddamned hospital.

Now, generational deterioration of that approach means those inheriting your position, simply leave things to be broken and wait for mgmt to notice, of course w\ copious CYA. But by the time a fiscal year's brought more funding and finally mgmt rubberstamp... patients have been deprived of or need to visit separate hospitals to receive care, at their expense... and then have to bear mgmt spinelessness and least-effort ilk, to pay for new equipment and all costs incurred. But upper mgmt says 'hey, as long as our stockholders don't have to pay for it and I don't personally get in trouble, I'll add to the cadre of useless douchenozzles suckling off lack of regulation in healthcare in this country. Why not?'

 

Not a hospital setting, but similar experience ... upper management outsourcing decisions at the position I retired from had pretty much steadily reduced what I could do for the people relying on us from "I can solve that for you" to "I've passed your concern along to the vendor, hope they respond", and the people who relied on us noticed and it wasn't an improvement. Whether it saved enough money to be worth that (or any money at all) isn't answerable by me.

I catch lunch now and then with colleagues who still haven't retired and that's still the direction it keeps going.

Only, the upper-management types calling those shots weren't genZ, they were boomers in awesome suits, some with national profiles and book deals about their genius for cost-cutting and achieving efficiency. The genZers are more the people stuck with being hired into positions where how to say "I've passed your concern along to the vendor" is what they have to learn.

 

Interesting as heck discussion.

 

Those are the reasons I took early retirement; I did what I was suppose to and could afford it. The other two people, currently still working that know what they're doing, are about an year and 18 months, respectively, from doing the same. If management thinks it's bad now - It's ONLY going to get worse.
Before I left; I forwarded a bunch of my old emails to other key department managers in the facility. I knew I would be scapegoated as to why things were getting worse. That's a management issue, NOT mine. I outlined 4 other employees that held similar OEM certifications and was being paid at my level - so it wasn't like I abandoned my post without proper backup. Unfortunately, they were management suck-ups that couldn't diagnose their way out of a paper bag - been carrying them and written multi-page incident reports on them for years. I was always given the "team work" speech - instead of why did that person messed up so badly and how do we correct that.

I don't mean to scare anyone; because there are multiple redundancies in place, but they're getting slowly widdled down by incompetent management and personnel. As I stated earlier; I've NEVER had more than ONE backup unit down for more than a week and there were several littered throughout the facility. Worse case scenario, physician or technician would have to walk a little further to get a fully operational backup. I've ALWAYS left signage in place that the unit is "down for maintenance" and the location of the two nearest operable units. To my understanding, that doesn't happen anymore - ergo the talk amongst other facility department managers about doubling the spare equipment fleet and signing OEM service contracts with a minimum uptime requirement clause ("my suggestion and it isn't going to be cheap").