[Dr. Franklin]

That's not the main point of this type of legislation. It is aimed at manufacturers like John Deere whose electronics make it almost impossible to do =any= work on yourself.

When a car breaks, is the manufacturer obligated to tell the owner how to fix the problem? How to repair a product is usually considered proprietary corporate information. When a product isn't built to last and it breaks before the warranty expires, it is probably cheaper for the company to just replace it, rather than to actually repair what broke. Once the warranty expires, it sucks to be the owner, and usually, with consumer products, people will just buy a new one. In short, people get that for which they pay. Quality products that last usually aren't made in China, but that's what the Big Box stores sell, here and in Europe.

[zeugma]

Yes, but when the manufacturer purposely makes his product so that you can’t make changes to it for any reason, you kind of have to ask who exactly they think the ‘owner’ of the product is.