Posted on 06/13/2026 10:48:28 AM PDT by MikelTackNailer
Tennessee families are being squeezed from every direction. Grocery bills are up. Fuel costs more. And when something breaks, whether it’s a car, an appliance, or a piece of farm equipment, getting it fixed has become its own financial ordeal. Some of that is inflation. But some of it is federal policy, and that part is fixable.
Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) was originally written to protect intellectual property. Few could have anticipated that manufacturers of refrigerators, smartphones, and farm equipment would later use it for an entirely different purpose: embedding proprietary encryption and software locks in their products, then invoking federal copyright law to ensure that only their authorized dealers can touch them.
The practical effect is that even when a repair is entirely lawful, accessing the diagnostic software to perform it may not be. Independent repair shops and small, community-based businesses fully trained and equipped for the work are legally shut out. Consumers who want to take their vehicle, appliance, or tractor to a local shop are denied that choice. They can pay whatever the manufacturer’s authorized network charges or buy something new. That is not a free market. It is a rigged one.
The economic damage is real and widespread. Auto repair shops across Tennessee are losing out on critical revenue because manufacturers restrict access to repair data. Farmers lose time and money waiting on manufacturer-dispatched technicians while equipment sits idle during planting season. These barriers extend far beyond cars and tractors. From refrigerators and power tools to bicycles and consumer electronics, any digitally enabled product is a potential target. The more technology advances, the wider the manufacturer’s grip becomes.
Reforming Section 1201 would not touch copyright protections for artists or innovators, the original objective of the law. It would simply stop manufacturers from using copyright law as a shield against competition in the repair marketplace. Consumers could choose where their products get fixed, whether at a local shop, a national chain, or their own garage. Independent businesses could compete for that work on an equal footing. That is how markets are supposed to function, and it is how this one would function if Congress updated a statute that has been exploited by large corporations.
This is not a partisan question. It is a question of whether federal law should prop up large manufacturers at the expense of working families and small businesses. Policymakers on both sides of the aisle have talked for years about supporting competition and keeping costs down. DMCA reform is a concrete opportunity to deliver on these goals. Representatives Harshbarger and Rose have already led on legislation targeting these restrictions in the automotive sector, and other members of Tennessee’s delegation have engaged the issue in agriculture – a significant part of Tennessee’s ecoonomy. The moment is right to bring these efforts together behind a broader fix.
For Latino families in Tennessee that take pride in self-reliance, work hard to balance their budgets, and build their livelihoods from the ground up, the freedom to repair what you own is not an abstract idea. It is an everyday reality. Our elected leaders should treat it like one.
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Jim
Robert Heinlein was a “science” fiction writer.
Emphasis on FICTION.
Good luck! I may have experience that might warn you about something I didn’t know to keep it going longer…
Great experiences with Toyota/Lexus, have only been able to run one of five to death or loss of confidence it will be reliable and safe — but it was a 2000 Camry Ibought my daughter, so that would be like yours ~ 26 yo now. We got it with less than 50,000 odometer in 2008-2010, got a lot of good use out of it, but at just shy of only 200,000 miles (2015) it died on the highway due to a head gasket leak that destroyed the engine. Then I learned that 5s-FE 2.2L engine has a design flaw, mismatched metals head / block / Head bolts , heat / cool /heat /cool stretch the head bolts back and forth until they/one stretched too much or fails catastrpphically It totalled the car since replacing engine would be way more than car was worth. So you might want to precautionarily replace head bolts / gasket at 175k.
Got her a 2015 new (they didn’t have that issue ) new and it has been good. Got other daughter a lightly used 2018 and it is too low off the ground but otherwise ok.
I’m telling the New World Order on you! 😉
Even if it is a mechanical watch? Integrated circuit?
Thank you very much for that heads-up. Paint on the hood is heat damaged right over the engine so that might be the reason for it. I’ve been having the car slowly restored so would freak out if the engine blew after all that effort.
Got exhaust manifold, seat covers and paint yet to do, with some modernization via console media thingy featuring back-up camera. I love the huge trunk space one could stuff at least five leftists in, state of rigor depending.
I can design and build those devices without even the tiniest need of a WI-FI connection while they are in service.
Do you remember when an electrical schematic was pasted to the bottom of every electronics device?
We bought a top-of-the-line air system for our home complete with touch screens and everything. A wall control went out 12 years later. There were no replacements anywhere in the USA even though we had been promised stocked parts for twenty years. We had to upgrade from a $1200 to a $3200 controller, plus $500 installation. I design and build electronic devices that size, none are worth over $80 in manufacturing costs.
My next air conditioning system will feature a tilting mercury switch thermostat; or, maybe a generic temperature controller from Home Depot. (Or make it myself) Oh, the horror! It won't be able to control humidity, the fan speed, or nag me on my phone. I'll die, I tell you!
If it’s Aitch Pea, it will soon self-destruct.
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Got an HP 1200 LaserJet printer, at least 20 years old.
Still works fine, and I can still find cartridges for it Self-test shows installed personalities etc 19990105.
Bought it before whats-her-face ruined HP.
I agree the new stuff is crap.
The “smart home” trend has led to manufacturers putting microchips into everything possible.
**********************************************
Had my HVAC replaced.
Tech asked me if I wanted a “smart” thermostat.
Told him “you are out of your rabid-ass mind”.
He just grinned at me, showed me the dumb but programmable thermostat and said “this goes in”. Good guys.
Look up Ursa AG. The sell new computer-less farm tractors with rebuilt Cummins engines from the 1990’s to bypass tier 4 emission standards. Apparently, they can’t build them fast enough for demand. There is a market!
My father was air aircraft maintenance manager who rose up the ranks from the USAF to a union mechanic at an airline servicing 707s, 747s, and A300s.
He told me from the beginning not to do any maintenance on equipment without the service manual. So for years and years, for each vehicle I purchased, the next purchase was the factory manual. My ‘85 Dodge Ram W150. My ‘75 Dodge B200 van. My ‘74 Dodge Power Wagon W100. My ‘97 Suzuki VZ800. My ‘07 Harley FXSTC. You get the point. Very detailed manuals from the manufacturer for under $100.
I just bought a used ‘13 (no longer called Dodge) Ram 1500. No physical manual available. You need to get a website subscription to access the online “manual” for that vehicle... for $2000... per year.
Nuts!
or on the inside back of radios.
I still have a tube tester and a heath voltmeter that uses tubes believe it or not.
I've been downloading and reading books regarding the design and manufacture of vacuum tubes. Damn, those were smart people. There is a lot of physics and chemistry packed into those things. Now I'm drooling over Welch fore-pumps and Varian diffusion pumps on eBay. Making tubes would keep me off the streets.
It wasn't actually that common, but Sears-Roebuck (remember them?) did that with a lot of their Silvertone products. They even included parts lists that people could order from.
What's important was that publishers like Sams (via their Photofact service) provided detailed information to repair people and technically-oriented owners at reasonable prices. They still do, but their stuff is quite pricey now and was occasionally inaccurate.
This is not a bug, it is a feature.
If I do the programming, such won’t be the case. Those are typical of the devices I have been designing and programming for fifty years.
It was pretty common. RCA, GE, Dumont, and many others had that practice. It started to fade once transistor based devices starting pushing tube based stuff aside. The SAMs docs picked up the slack.
*****
My dad had one of these when I was a kid. Loved cutting grass with it.
Nuts!
I know! Was going to mention this to HYPOCRACY and The Duke when they spoke of collecting manuals for a repair business.
Whenever I stop by an auto parts or thrift store I keep an eye out for the end-consumer Haynes manuals covering makes and models my friends or myself may have - but they don't compare to the in-depth databases those subscriptions provide.
But...YouTube or the internet has saved the day more times than I can recall. It's like a crap shoot but far better than being at the mercy(lessness) of auto repair shops.
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