Though there’s a carve-out for game consoles.
That carve out is so blatant, and so obvious, that I’m surprised that actually exists.
It really puts a negative light on the politicians who wrote the law for all of the voters to see.
I really hope there’s some investigative reporting as to who wrote the law, and who wrote that clause, so we can identify them easier in the next election cycle.
Apple: our iPhone is now a game console which happens to be usable as phone
How long until the Louis Rossmann video that tells us it’s all rubbish?
He has a video on when it passed in the assembly.
The only thing he would likely have a problem with it is there is no provision allowing independent 3rd party repairers to use aftermarket parts. This is likely the reason why Apple supported the bill. Apple can continue to charge an arm and a leg for any parts and not supply parts to independent 3rd parties
If Apple supports any “right to repair” bill, it’s probably not entirely what you want.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://piped.video/NfhFBSraDSM
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Apparently it’s already pretty lacking in that it doesn’t give provisions for 3rd party manufactured parts. However I’m not sure if he’ll actually do a video for this one, he did one for New York (where he lives) and covered this point already.
“California is home to a number of device makers, most notably Apple, which came out in support of the bill after initially trying to stall it.”
Aka they got whatever carve out they wanted and the bill doesn’t cost them money.
It will cost them money, but I’d guess they did the math on whether it was worth it to stop fighting this one and potentially have a bill go through that cost them even more. There are also some things that seem to be carve outs that feel practically written by Apple’s lawyers.
Anyway, I will defend Apple against some of the absolute dogshit takes people have about them here, but Apple’s stance on repairability and right to repair is absolutely dumb. They spent a not inconsiderable amount of time on the action they’re taking to fight climate change and getting the Apple Watch to carbon neutral in the last big keynote and I couldn’t help thinking the entire time that if they just made it so that anyone with opposable thumbs could replace the back plate, screen, and battery in 20 minutes or less using tools you can find in any junk drawer, it would do far more than any recycling program or charging during off hours or whatever else.
Ditto for just basic support and software lockouts. Apple is generally pretty good keeping software support (5 years is entirely common) but the arbitrary cut offs are fucking dumb. I have an Apple Watch 3, and they cut software support for that last year which is fine. The form factor has aged out, it was bordering on under-powered a year or two after it launched, and it was time. But I also have a 2015 5k iMac that is just humming along running just fine and that a group of volunteers can get running the latest, no problem. I have no doubt that if that Apple Watch wasn’t locked down to hell and back, someone would figure out how to get it running debian or something so it isn’t just landfill fodder.
I’d really, really like to see legislation that addresses this. When I pay off a phone at a carrier, I can unlock it and take it where I want. When a manufacturer gives up on supporting that device, they should be required to at minimum unlock it, if not provide source for at least base level of user-space.
Honestly just open up the laws around reverse engineering and prohibit software blocks that can’t be removed for free.
That will cause actual competition in the repair market.
And enforce giving root access to device owners if no security updates are provided anymore (e.g. if a exploit is not fixed within x time after gaining knowledge of it)
Root access should be available from the moment my purchase payment clears. I paid, it’s my device.
Exactly. If you don’t have root, you don’t “own” the device. Apps, like bank apps, that refuse to run on devices with root access, (or custom OSs) should be illegal.
For apple, the iPhone is like DRM for their software and you buy the license to use iOS and not hardware. 😅
Honestly I’d love to have more you ain’t selling it laws but hey I’m just a dude who wants to play Majora’s mask without having to wear my N64 into dust fr why are we treating retro games like they are currently being sold
If you own the physical game last I checked, you can legally play it on an emulator
I had a fantasy the other night about making it law that if a company stops selling a software product, “independent distributors” would be allowed to provide functional copies as a public service. The content owners would still own it, the “independent distributors” would not be allowed to profit directly from the items, and if the owner decides to start selling it again, it would need to be removed from the distribution repository so long as it is being sold for a reasonable price with reasonable availability.
Essentially, I want to make ROMs legal to distribute when gaming companies decide they don’t want to sell it anymore. Why the fuck is 95% of the NES catalog illegal to obtain. And they can stuff their shit about “losing money” on it. They aren’t selling it, they aren’t making money.
Afaik consoles are still exempt, so only a partial victory.
I would bet this is a reason why Apple supported this bill. I bet the iPhone is now classified as a console.
Cell phones are specifically excluded from the definition of “video game console,” being instead defined as “general or … all-purpose computer[s]”.
(3) (A) “Electronic or appliance product” or “product” means a product, manufactured for the first time, and first sold or used in California, on or after July 1, 2021, described in subdivision (h), (i), (j), or (k) of Section 9801 of the Business and Professions Code for which the manufacturer makes available tools, parts, and documentation to authorized repair providers, and includes products described in those subdivisions that are sold to schools, businesses, local governments, or in other methods outside of direct retail sale.
(B) “Electronic or appliance product” or “product” does not include any of the following:
(iii) A video game console.
(9) “Video game console” means a computing device, including its components and peripherals, that is primarily used by consumers for playing video games, such as a console machine, a handheld console device, or another device or system. “Video game console” does not include a general or an all-purpose computer, which includes, but is not limited to, a desktop computer, laptop, tablet, or cell phone.
