According to my public speaking calendar, April is "Misinformation Month". It's a time I look forward to because I'm finding many of this year's fearmongering myths and dubious claims to be a hoot!
Take for instance, the "Right to repair"; a claim of product ownership that used to intuitively enable buyers to fix their own possessions or use aftermarket parts as necessary. That is, until John Deere angered farmers with restrictions on tractor repair and HP outlawed the use of third-party ink cartridges in their printers, among many other examples.
Now that the movement has escalated to legislative reform, the Right to Repair is being denounced as irresponsible affirmative action, positioned as an affront to copyright law and even accused of posing a national security threat.
Evidently the Right to Repair is a form of resistance against the trend towards turning one-time purchases into continuous revenue generation, but the control exercised by manufacturers over modern products goes beyond turning everything into a subscription model.
At best, it is a risky way to exercise ultimate control over consumer devices and industrial products - at a distance - while protecting the additional revenue channels presented by privacy-invasive data collection. All of it is an affront to consumer rights, but no one should be surprised if the consent grab and gaslighting become a lot more egregious in the months to come.
Karl Bode
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