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A Fight Over the Right to Repair Cars Takes a Wild Turn

The federal government’s stance in Massachusetts appears to conflict with its general views on the right to repair. In 2021, President Joe Biden ordered the Federal Trade Commission to create new rules making it harder for manufacturers to limit who can fix the devices they create. Amid competing letters, statements, and legal paperwork there’s a fundamental question, one that Massachusetts tried to find the answer to: Who owns the resources of data created by today’s increasingly software- and computer-chip-enabled vehicles? For decades, those advocating for the right to repair—that is, the idea that once you buy a product, you get…