Church of Scientology Chimes in Opposing Right to Repair Laws

Technology@lemmy.world – 202 points – 10 months ago

Right to repair’s unlikely new adversary: Scientologists

Church of Scientology Chimes in Opposing Right to Repair Laws::"A totally unreasonable proposal."

I'll be blunt: the fact that they're opposing it makes me even more supportive of it.

I would bet money that this is about their “thetan e-meters” and having to provide parts for them. Otherwise they won’t be able to collect $5k for a new one when they stop working (as if they ever did). https://hackaday.com/2018/07/19/whats-inside-a-scientology-e-meter/

I mean yeah. If you could repair your own just by replacing the little box of screws that makes it, uh, work? with three paperclips, a copy of Time Magazine and 3 sticks of gum - why nobody would hand over their life savings to their ~~racket~~ church.

this is about their “thetan e-meters” and having to provide parts for them.

LMAO!!

Hahaha, apple chimes in: "look, I just don't think people need to have so much personal control over their own communication preferences, right?"

"Scientology just gets it".

I cannot imagine why they don't want anyone to look inside a man made electronics device, designed some time ago, that allows one person to assess another persons "god compliance score"............. (British sarcasm).

Hey Scientologists, nobody asked you.

Uhh, yeah the lawmakers kind of did. Laws affect everybody, so it makes sense for everybody to react and chime in with their opinion. Even if they are awful and almost nobody agrees.

Hey there mister literal, nobody asked you to take it so seriously

This is the best summary I could come up with:

From Big Tech to politicians and individuals who don't think product repairability should be government-mandated, it has been a tedious battle for a movement that has seen major wins lately.

The Scientology group's letter seeks to alter exemptions granted for self-repairing some consumer electronics, like video game consoles, laptops, home appliances, and farming tractors.

With those products, the license agreement is "negotiated and agreed to in advance" of purchase and may include restrictions that are critical to "safe and proper" device usage.

"I can imagine manufacturers using the presence of a 'quick start' guide for a product as evidence that their consumers are 'specially trained in use of the device' and thus denying broad access to repair."

Nathan Proctor, US Public Interest Research Group's senior director, told 404 Media that Author Services' requested DMCA changes would prevent people from repairing products with end-user license agreements (EULAs).

Regardless of how an organization representing the works of the creator of Scientology ended up in the Copyright Office's mailbox, right-to-repair advocates say the amendment would harm the movement and would extend past electropsychometers if it were ever implemented.

The original article contains 830 words, the summary contains 185 words. Saved 78%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

Tl;dr: group of idiots finds something wrong with a perfectly reasonable proposal.

Gotta extract all possible monetary value before you stop existing!