Weakening IP law is the complicated way to do it, because you're touching so many other things that are not just "embedded software in hardware products".

The simple way to protect consumers ability to fix products is to simply require manufacturers to provide the information to do it.

We shouldn't focus on patching stuff when the core of the system is rotten, we need to dig deep, possibly do a rewrite. This is a peripheral thing that may just be fixed for free if we deal with the core.

Regardless of the validity of that statement -- it will never be politically feasible to rewrite a large chunk of IP law on such a niche issue. If we want this to actually happen, we need to propose a solution where there are more people who support it than there are who are concerned about it. Rewriting all of IP law means you're just going to make enemies with all of the major media companies who don't have anything to do with selling hardware devices.

But, I still don't think this is an IP law issue. IP law should not be a weapon used to prevent you from repairing your devices -- but neither should anything else. If you only change IP law, companies are just going to find a different way to prevent you from mucking with their stuff.

There's a reason we call this "right to repair" and not "right to make an attempt to do hacky DRM workarounds"

I don't think this is a niche issue though.

The current discussion is about fixing cars. But the right to repair is a problem for everything with a computer in it.

You could take the title of this article and replace "an electric vehicle" just about any electronic device most people would own.

It's not a niche issue to anyone on this forum -- politically, it's a niche issue.

https://content.gallup.com/origin/gallupinc/GallupSpaces/Pro...