Procurement to the Rescue of the Right To Repair

 I've provided several written and oral testimony on behalf of "Right To Repair" Laws in several states. What prepares me for the discussion is over 3 decades of interest in Warranty Law, Planned Obsolescence, Trademark and Patent Law.

Here's the thing. Most of the testimony in favor of Right To Repair is based on past Planned Obsolescence techniques. Most of the testimony AGAINST Right to Repair is based on scary things that might occur in the future, if OEMs are forced to stop blocking independents (who according to OEM TV ads are far more likely to stalk you than OEM repair shops).

But the VERY SCARY future is based on what Planned Obsolescence has in mind. 

Technology exists, today, with RFID, GPS and Blockchain software, to make secondhand parts recovered from dunked units not sync. Today, you can take a stick of RAM memory from a caput computer and upgrade another computer. Tomorrow, the RAM may be sync'd to the serial number of the original PC.

The Magnuson Moss FTC Warranty Act of 1975 was about FUTURE PROOFING, not redressing past warranty debacles. OEMs stopped playing games with warranty. The previous items sold under previous warranties were not changed.

This is about the future, not the past.

PROCUREMENT IS THE ANSWER.

In the 1990s, we solved markets for recycled paper by getting government procurment to BUY and SPECIFY recycled content (20%).

We can future-proof electronics repair. Every PC or laptop procured by your state government should have a free repair schematic available online, and a spare tire.

If you are and OEM, and the government contract you bid upon says that your schematic and repair instructions must be freely available online, you are checkmated.