A new lobbying group is fighting Right to Repair laws, in a way that proves that certain things should be AVOIDED at all costs, not repaired.

The Right to Repair is the right to fix technology yourself or have someone of YOUR choice, other than the manufacturer do the work for you

A recent set of attacks to the Right to Repair uses arguments like these, from the director of the “Security Innovation Center”:

People say “It’s just my washing machine. Why can’t I fix it on my own?’ But we saw the Mirai botnet attack last year…” Those kinds of products in the wrong hands can be used to do bad things."

The Mirai botnet is malware that takes control of internet-connected devices to use them for large-scale network attacks. Supporters of the Right to Repair call such arguments ludicrous, and strictly speaking they are right. Security through obscurity never was the best possible strategy, not in cases like these at least. But demanding the Right to Repair certain internet-connected stuff is wrong.

That statement is not a ludicrous argument against the Right to Repair. That is an excellent explanation of why almost all internet-connected appliances are (like many other consumer-oriented applications of the Internet of Things", of course) a monumentally dumb idea period.

Please don’t mix “Right to Repair” with “Right to dumb, dangerous products”

Three quarters of the current proposals and predictions for the Internet of Things are some variation of “I want more of your money, but couldn’t invent anything really innovative, so buy this, because it is connected to the Internet”.

A real Right To Repair essential objects, from smarthphones to tractors is necessary. But people who demand it to put an end to pollution and wastes of money should just oppose stuff that is very hard to keep secure exactly because it it was connected to the Internet just to invent new needs. Please don’t fall in that trap. Support Open Source, (but disconnected!) home appliances instead.