When, last summer, the Copyright Office has examined the question of the defense of the right of jailbreaker make mod video games or repair independently of their property console, no formal proposal was put forward.

For this purpose it is born recently an association dedicated to represent the person making repairs to work in various fields so as not to lose the same opportunity in the future.
Various groups of technical experts in repairs have announced that they have formed the Repair Coalition, an advocacy group that will press for the reform of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act includes the "right to repair" everything from cell phones to computers, from tractors to watches, from refrigerators to cars.
Another goal of the coalition is to be able to push through the state-level legislation requiring manufacturers to sell parts of their articles also to independent repairers and individual consumers so as not to oppose measures carried out independently.
"It's a long time," he told me Gordon-Gay Byrne, executive director of the group, "that all these small repair businesses encounter obstacles in the various sectors in which they operate.
We realized that it is always the same type of problem. "
The problem to which reference is made-that is, the attempt of the manufacturers control the market of repair-has two main causes, continued Gordon-Byrne.
First, the producers exploit copyright law to maintain control over the content of the software within their gadgets on which they can intervene exercises authorized by them only.
Second, the manufacturers do not make publicly available spare parts or guides to carry out repairs on their products, including specially designed components often in projects to make difficult the operation to outside.
These problems have been known for years in the smartphone market, computers and consumer electronics.
For this, groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and iFixit were able to make requests to the DMCA.
Increasingly, however, these obstacles are spreading to other sectors.
"It will cover literally any product complex enough to include digital components"
The Repair Coalition also-known-as repair.org includes members of the EFF, iFixit, PC Rebuilders & Recyclers, The Fixers Collective, Public Knowledge as well as a number of other smaller industrial groups.
"All consumer appliances, from refrigerators to microwaves, are subject to monopolies on repairs by producers, even when you can buy the parts in isolation," explained Gordon-Byrne.
Customers who tried to service your refrigerator came in only to find out at some point of repair that certain components of the thermostats or valve controls are password protected that manufacturers only provide their authorized repairers with the increasing popularity the Internet of Things, this kind of problem will only get worse.
"We face obstacles similar for a while ', but with the progressive digitalization of any aspect of our lives, the question will eventually cover literally any product in the world is sufficiently complex to include digital components," he told me Kyle Wiens, CEO of iFixit.
And so The Repair Coalition will work primarily to repeal a federal level to Section 1201 of the DMCA, which states that it is illegal to "circumvent a technological measure that prevents access to a protected work [DMCA]."
So far, activists have tried to get "exemptions" from this rule-thanks to them it is still legal groped to repair a tractor or a smartphone that contains software.
But the process is very cumbersome and lengthy, since it can advance official required only every three years.
"From the conceptual point of view it is always the same kind of problem," explained Gordon-Byrne.
At the state level, the group will press because you get laws like the one proposed in New York to require manufacturers to distribute repair manuals and sell for isolated components of their products to anyone-not just to the shops.
The idea behind the initiative is that if a sufficient number of states were to approve similar legislation, continue to maintain the status quo become inconvenient for producers, thus allowing consumers to repair items they own with less difficulty.
"We want to become an organization that represents all repairers," said Gordon-Byrne.
"We want to support young engineers who are not helped by anyone."

From Vice