Latest / Mechonomist Podcast / Right to Repair, the Commons, and Monopoly Capital (pt. 2)

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Right to Repair, the Commons, and Monopoly Capital (pt. 2) · Mechonomist Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Who's an author that wrote about supermarkets is the author that I'm growing fond of.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: And she wrote yesterday about a right to repair and a socialist right to repair movement.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: A little bit about this.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: I just posted my old commentary about right to repair in the common.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: So that was from two years ago.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I wanted to sort of jump off of that and jump off of what,
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: uh, And Larson was talking about yesterday.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: Right to repair is about ownership of software, period, pretty much.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Modern equipment,
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: modern cars,
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: modern trucks, modern passenger trucks, modern big trucks are all electromechanical.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: So they are mechanical machines that are controlled by software.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: And that software is owned by the manufacturers and
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: the manufacturers
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: make it difficult to get access to that software and
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: the data needed to repair those vehicles and equipment.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: And some manufacturers don't allow it at all, such as John Deere.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: You have to have your equipment serviced at the John Deere dealership,
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: which if you can imagine,
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: you've got a combine that breaks down in the middle of harvest and you've got
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: to load it up on your truck.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: And take it to the John Deere dealer, you're losing money hand over fist right then.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: There has been right to repair legislation in the United States that passed
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: in Massachusetts and the manufacturer signed a consent decree to apply
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: the Massachusetts ruling to all states.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: And from that,
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: technicians got access to Programming software and J-Boxes,
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: which J-Boxes are a pass-through device that allows for the programming software
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: to communicate with the computers and your equipment, in your car.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: And that was sort of the first level of right to repair.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: But since then,
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: manufacturers have done things like created manufacturer-specific diagnostic trouble
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: codes that they don't allow
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Independent shops to have access to.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: And just to be quite honest,
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: independent shops right now are having a very difficult time getting access to
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: the data that they need to be able to repair your vehicle.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: And this is techno feudalism,
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: monopoly capital,
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: whatever you want to call it,
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: who are attempting to squeeze independent shops out.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: And especially, I mean,
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: Ford has said,
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: That they don't believe that home mechanics should work on their cars at all because
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: of safety issues.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: And there's some truth to that with the new advanced driver assist systems.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: If you change anything, that has to be recalibrated.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: You have to have special tools to recalibrate that stuff.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Those special tools are different for each manufacturer,
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: which is another thing in right to repair.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: They want to try to standardize the advanced driver assist system calibration tools.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: But at this point, they're different for every manufacturer.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: It can cost $20,000 to $30,000 to get those tools.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just the manufacturers are fighting right to repair because they want
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: to squeeze out independent shops and home mechanics.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: So that's monopoly capital, techno-feudalism, however you want to put it.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: And my answer to this is that we need intellectual commons.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, I'm not the first person to say this, nor will I be the last person to say this.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: But there's a difference between real property and intellectual property,
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: and that's that real property is alienable.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: If I And using a piece of property,
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: nobody else can use a piece of real property, nobody else can use it.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: But if I'm using a piece of software, it is inalienable.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: I can use the piece of software and a million other people can use that software at
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: the same time.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: So there needs to be different rules.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: For intellectual property, then there needs to be rules for real property.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: There needs to be a more democratic version of intellectual property,
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: such as the Creative Commons license, that sort of stuff.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: But manufacturers are going to fight this tooth and nail because it's a way for them
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: to control the industry and maintain hegemonic power over the automotive
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: and equipment repair industry.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, I think right to repair is, I think Ann Larson is right.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: Right to repair is the movement of the future.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: But we should know exactly what we're talking about when we say right to repair,
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: which is the ownership of who owns the knowledge
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: and who should have control
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: and access to that knowledge.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: And right now it's controlled almost exclusively
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: by what people have called cloud lords,
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: techno feudalists, whatever, however you want to call it.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: And it's squeezing the independence out.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I think if you want to be able to take your car to anybody but the dealer,
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's a movement that you would be very interested in.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I know we got two people watching.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: If y'all have any questions,
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: please feel free now is the time because I'm done with my commentary.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see y'all next time.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Peace, y'all.