New York state passes criticized right-to-repair law

The governor of the American state of New York signed the right-to-repair law approved by the Senate six months ago. She has done this with an addition that, according to advocates, undermines the entire law.

Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul signed the law on December 28, as writes The Verge, among others. The law approved by the Senate requires that tools, parts and instructions regarding ‘digital electronic products’ be made available to consumers and independent repairers by manufacturers.

Several additions have been made that, according to critics such as Louis Rossmann and iFixit, do not work in favor of the original intention. Firstly, electronics for companies, such as schools, hospitals, universities and data centers, are exempt from the law. In addition, when the law becomes valid on July 1, 2023, it will apply to devices that are newly produced from that moment on; existing items owned by consumers are excluded.

The amendments also state that manufacturers are free to sell assemblies of multiple parts instead of individual parts. This is at the expense of the affordability of the parts required by consumers. Finally, the site also writes that ‘passwords, security codes or materials’ that are needed to remove protections on components do not have to be provided. An example of such component security is Face ID on iPhones in certain cases no longer works when the screen is replaced. This is to prevent ‘physical injury’ and ‘security problems’ in the event of a risk of incorrect installation.

Nevertheless iFixit describes the new law as ‘historic’ and something to celebrate. Right-to-repair activist Louis Rossmann responded in the form of a video and shows itself critically; he describes the law as a ‘useless piece of shit bill’.