On October 18 of this year, the House of Commons unanimously passed the right to repair amendment under the Copyright Act (Bill C-244). The bill, originally tabled by Cambridge MP Bryan May, will allow the circumvention of a technological protection measure (TMP) so long as it is for diagnosis, maintenance, or repair purposes.

TPMs are meant to protect proprietary information or software, but they also inhibit an individual’s right and ability to repair any device that they own, and so often devices end up in landfills. Waste diversion concerns are among the key reasons for this amendment, as is the expense that repair places on people.

Murray Zink is the founder of 4RepairKW and the UW Repair Hub and has been promoting repair for many years. CKMS News talked to both Bryan May and Murray Zink.