“IBM supports a right-to-repair policy that empowers consumers while protecting cybersecurity, intellectual property and critical infrastructure,” an IBM spokesperson emailed WIRED. “Given the critical and often sensitive nature of enterprise-grade products, any legislation should clearly cover consumer devices.”
Cisco did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment, but a Cisco representative said at the hearing: “Cisco supports SB-90. While it appreciates the arguments offered in favor of the right to repair, not all digital technology devices are created equal.”
During the hearing, more than a dozen repair advocates spoke from organizations like Pirg Repair Associationand iFixit opposes the bill. YouTuber and repair advocate Louis Rossmann was there. The main problem, repair advocates say, is that the bill uses intentionally vague language to control who can repair their products.
“The issue of ‘information technology’ and ‘critical infrastructure’ is as cynical as you can be about it,” says Nathan Proctor, leader of Pirg’s US Right to Repair campaign. “It sounds scary to lawmakers, but it’s just the Internet.”
Although not specifically defined in the bill, “information technology” typically means technology such as servers and routers. “Critical infrastructure” is a language borrowed from a 2001 federal law defines the term as “systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, that are so vital to the United States” that the inoperability or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination of these issues.
“I can point to at least five problems with the bill,” Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director of the Repair Association, said during the hearing. “The definition of critical infrastructure is completely inadequate. The definition proposed in this bill is not even a definition.”
