this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2023
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Right to Repair

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Whether it be electronics, automobiles or medical equipment, the manufacturers should not be able to horde “oem” parts, render your stuff useless if you repair it with aftermarket parts, or hide schematics of their products.

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A group representing L. Ron Hubbard asked the Copyright Office to alter a repair exemption that makes it legal to hack Scientology's E-Meter—and lots of other electronics, too.

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[–] MyFairJulia@lemmy.world 54 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Wouldn't want public to find out that the E-Meter is IIRC just a fancy resistance meter, do we?

Or how to break the DRM the company introduced just to make sure that the E-Meter cannot be used by everyone. Or that my multimeter is much cooler and has a built-in scope as opposed to their thing.

[–] Phanatik@kbin.social 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Don't know the first thing about these E-Meters but it's really funny to me that they think tampering with the device could harm the Church's reputation and goodwill. I wonder why that would be the case. If Apple doesn't get a way out, neither does Scientology.

[–] Jumper775@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Scientology might yet get a way out just because they are a religion legally.

[–] _haha_oh_wow_@kbin.social 12 points 1 year ago

They're only considered a religion legally because they illegally infiltrated the IRS and intimidated them into giving them that status. Super messed up, read up on Operation Snow White if you aren't already familiar.

[–] gaael@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Apple is still not a religion ? They do have enough zealots to qualify :D

[–] hihellobyeoh@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Don't give them any ideas ..

[–] Uranium3006@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

this is why religion should not have special privileges

[–] Jumper775@lemmy.world 0 points 1 year ago

Not necessarily. Religions special privileges are there to separate them from the government, it is to limit interaction between the two bodies. This is ultimately a good thing as it prevents the country/s from becoming a church state and maintain religious freedom. The issue is when a cult or other body strong arms its way to these privileges and then uses its lack of restrictions to exert their will on the country who can’t really do much back.

[–] MyFairJulia@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Here's a video that goes into detail what is inside Mark-Super-7 E-Meter. https://piped.video/watch?v=N2O0oen6E90

The successor requires an online activation to be used. Unlike my UT81-B multimeter with integrated scope.

Btw i feel like we should make a mod for the E-Meter to allow users to plug in different probes to use them as proper resistance meters. You know, for the electrically inclined ex-scientologist.

[–] VitoScaletta@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Sounds like it's time for someone to make a FOSS E-meter

[–] MyFairJulia@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

We'll call it libreBullshit

[–] AlwaysNowNeverNotMe@kbin.social 46 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Scientologists proving they are way more into ology then scient

[–] hypelightfly@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago

The device itself already did that. Just another example to throw on the pile.

[–] BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca 26 points 1 year ago

Every once in a while a headline really catches me off guard... This is one of those times.

[–] HappyMeatbag@beehaw.org 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

They’re believing their own hype. They can relax. This is a non-issue.

People who aren’t scientologists will be unsurprised to learn that e-meters are pseudoscientific bullshit. People who are scientologists will be too brainwashed to care about trivial things like “facts” and “evidence”.

They don’t hand e-meters out like candy. You have to be with the organization for a while, and be “trained” to use it before you’re even allowed to buy one. If someone actually owns an e-meter, they’re already a true believer, critic, or just a collector of oddities. The law doesn’t need to be changed to protect scientology, and personally, I don’t think it should be.

[–] prole@beehaw.org 9 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

People who aren’t scientologists will be unsurprised to learn that e-meters are pseudoscientific bullshit. People who are scientologists will be too brainwashed to care about trivial things like “facts” and “evidence”.

It's kind of a self-report in a way. The fact that they're even making a big deal about it indicates there is something they don't want members to see. If they had just ignored it, like you say, nobody would have cared on either side lol.

[–] AssPennies@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

Full article here (wayback machine; the original was partially behind a paywall for me).

All the scientology malarkey aside, it's bananas to me that anything electronic is the purview of the US Copyright Office. It's insane to me that the RIAA/MPAA et. al. lobbies have been so successful in getting the US government to do their bidding.

[–] Monkstrosity@lemm.ee 8 points 1 year ago

Yeah no that’s not how that works. Else churches could start going around dictating how the Bibles they give out are used? If it’s given or purchased, go fuck yourself, I’m tired of entities trying to claim ownership of things that are no longer physically theirs.