Presenting Christina Fisher - Technet ANTI-right to repair lobbyist

the voice of the innovation economy this is one of the companies that was talking today a company called tech net it's really difficult to figure out what it is they actually do if you click on their story and you go to about us tech net is the national bipartisan network of Technology CEOs and senior executives that promotes the growth of the innovation economy tech nets diverse membership includes dynamic American bit by this point there have been so many buzzwords national bipartisan innovation economy growth diverse dynamic I mean how many words are here that don't actually have to be here this seems like something that you know some intern wrote to make a lobbying company seem like something that is anything other than a company that gets paid for dealing with the legislative process so that's something that I think we should keep in mind when we hear some of their criticisms regards to money that they make during their testimony today good afternoon chair chair chair Feeny thank you so much for the opportunity to testify before you this afternoon my name is Christina Fisher and the executive director for the Northeast for TechNet since I've been before you before I won't go the host feel and who TechNet is but I did want to first start by saying that we're here in opposition to the red tour pair bills we've heard a lot of conversations here today so I'll try not to repeat what's been said before me but I think something that's resonated with me is something that you heard early on here is this is legislation in search of a problem if the problem that we're seeing here is a concern for consumer choice I think that has been demonstrated today that there is consumer choice you can go to your original manufacturer to get a repair you can go to an authorized dealer to get a repair or you can go to an independent repair shop to get a repair there's plenty of consumer choice consumers can choose which electronics they buy and they can choose whether if they don't like certain manufacturers to choose other ones in the future but the reality is that some of the people that you're hearing from today greatly seek to profit off of this legislation being passed second if another conversation that we've had today is about a waste and recycling I don't think that's really the intended goal I think it's an additional talking point but if we do have concerns about a waste and recycling in the state then we should have be having a conversation on how best to improve our waste and recycling programs this legislation has been filed in over 21 stays in no state has passed this legislation and that's for a reason including several of your neighboring states which have looked at this including Vermont which I know was mentioned earlier but I think it's worth noting that they conducted a four month task force and ultimately that report resulted in no legislation being filed the next session I guess I want to conclude just by mentioning that Massachusetts has always prided itself in being pro innovation and passing this legislation would send the unintended message to the business community that if you innovate and you create that you no longer have that value to yourself and that is allowed to be shared with others so I encourage the committee to think thoughtfully about this before advancing this legislation thank you thank you via testimony any questions for individual there being none thank you very much for your time hi my name is Louis and I run a repair shop in New York City before I get started I think it's important to address a point that mrs. Fisher just brought up which is that there are many people that are seeking to profit from this legislation and I agree that it's an important point I think it's important to look at who paid to be here today versus who is being paid to be here today when looking at who is opposing the legislation and who is in favor of that legislation that being said let's just go back to general idea that I have which is that law is downstream from culture culture happens first now about three and a half years ago I made an educational video showing you what to do if you have water spilled into a Macbook and it gets in the trackpad area I showed how to replace a fuse that blue in this customer's case that their keyboard and trackpad didn't work and three months later I heard from a law firm of Co Patrick and Townsend asking on behalf of Apple if I would take this video down why do I bring this I bring this up because the appliance lobbyists over there said that this is a solution in search of a problem however I don't often see people paying $1,200 an hour to create when there's no problem there is a problem which is that when I show you where a fuses in a product I can get in trouble for that there were also individuals that brought up that authorized repair is very good and it does the job very well but then I'd also bring up the question as to a CBC News piece that came out last year where there was a bent pin in a cable of a laptop and they wanted $2,000 to fix this I fixed it on camera in 30 seconds by bending back the cable in when it comes to the video games my console manufacturers if authorizer pair is over there why is it that if the video plug breaks on your Playstation that the authorizer pair time is three to six weeks to fix that when I can teach a 16 year old how to do that job inside of five to 15 minutes the issue here is that the culture has changed but the law has stayed the same the laws that are being used to say that I shouldn't have access to document that says where the fuses or if I show this where this keyboard fuses that I could be in trouble and have my business in jeopardy is a law that was created 50 70 90 years ago when the culture was different back then if you open your refrigerator you off open your television there's a schematic there that tells you how to do all of this I is a normal person not even a repair shop owner could call up the company and say can I get this thing from my vacuum of my radio or you could just go to Radio Shack and get it now you have to see how it is today or if you have a MacBook Air and the SMC chip that reads your battery and can tell what your battery percentage is dies I can't replace that chip easily because it is firmware on it if I try to read that firmware it would the chip will stop working it's very similar to this TV show called 24 where Jack Bauer would interrogate terrorists and if they write he's like where's the bomb the terrorists would take a cyanide pill and go you're never gonna find out the chip does that it erases itself this is something that was unheard of 50 or 70 years ago but the laws have not evolved I think that the law needs to evolve to keep up with the technology and the last excuse that I heard was this has been denied in every state why Boston why Massachusetts would not have been a great attitude to have 250 years ago that's it Thank You Vera Thank You Leah testimony any questions from the members senator Feeney Thank You mr. chairman thank you for your testimony although I think Chloe would have been able to help Jack Bauer figure anything else you mentioned you said if you show I believe you used the example of a fuse if you show consumer where the fuse is or if you you know figure that I don't repair that that you could essentially be in trouble your business can be in trouble are there stories of independent repair shops that are contacted by manufacturers and that do get sued or you know in trouble could you just maybe elaborate on that or what your fear is that that could happen to you my fear in terms of it happening to me is that ice replied saying if you want this video down don't call me from your law firm file a public DMCA claim or you have to say what the problem is that creates the PR nightmare of them having to say we don't want our customers to know it refuses they never did because of public backlash but realistically speaking at any given time they could go through with it and they would probably win the case I've heard of other companies being contact similarly there are people here who post on iFixit answers I fix it as a business that has been contacted several times over things on their website although I don't have exact details to it and they're not here to speak on it but it's something that we all live in fear so you post a video and then you get contacted by an attorney yes representing a manufacturer and what is the what does that attorney tell you you libel are you gonna sue you they tell you just try this that and the other and the thing that's interesting to me is the document that showed on screen it's essentially something that's already sold to you so when you buy the machine you can tell where that is that just by measuring it simply sold to me in a different form if it's sold via schematic versus via the actual product it would be like if I sold you a book in Latin and then somebody else gave it to you in English you already have the book in front of it's just confusing you could easily transmit you could difficulty Morse to say translate it to LA to English if you'd like to using an online translator it's just a pain in the ass okay thank you thank you thank you for your time

Channel: Louis Rossmann

Views: 711,635

Rating: 4.9849615 out of 5

Keywords: right to repair, legislation, right to repair hearing, right to repair movement, right to repair 2019, right to repair louis rossmann, right to repair bill, right to repair act, right to repair boston

Id: Bt2KDtDt940

Length: 8min 43sec (523 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 21 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

[removed]

[u/FawltyPlay]

He seems to kick ass in this way on a regular basis

[u/JustThall]

The “pain in the ass” ending sums it up nicely

[u/Clemensor]

Did he have a time limit? I think he flew way too fast through his points.

[u/Lipsovertits]

That was pretty impressive. People rarely are this clear and concise.

[u/4THOT]

Rossmann is great.