Right to Repair ​

I really love that you mentioned the right to repair movement! The right to repair movement has been gaining in standing lately, passing statutes in many states despite the consistent lobbying from companies that prefer generating more e-waste.
Unfortunately, all this legislation is in-effect, useless. The problem with right to repair is that the companies are supposed to provide schematics to assist with board-level-repair and make sure replacement parts are available for all consumers and small businesses.

On the surface level, the bill passed in California does exactly as advertised.California's bill is absolutely the best consumer electronics repair bill that's been passed so far, as it's both fair to the manufacturers and is explicitly written so they cannot make cybersecurity claims to exclude parts, while ensuring independent businesses can obtain the parts.

However, it does not include the major important item: price. Wholesale price isn't exactly defined. Any company can choose what the wholesale price is, as it's not exactly legally defined. Additionally, the bill allows manufacturers to "authorize" certain repair centers, and independent businesses must put in writing that "they are not authorized to repair the devices." That elevates manufacturer authorization into a legally approved standing, which shouldn't be the case.

Most importantly, ESA was able to remove consoles (video games) from the bill, meaning the most commonly consumed gaming device is not included. At least phones are though!

I love that right to repair is finally taking off, but there's still lots of issues that we need to tackle, including keeping manufacturers liable and extending it to cover all devices. A great thank you to people such as Louis Rossmann who have been actively lobbying for repair!