Less waste, more consumer protection: MEPs adopt ‘Right to repair’ position
Today, the European Parliament adopted its position on the ‘right to repair’ law. The new rules will make it easier for consumers to get their defective products repaired, reducing the need to discard them. MEPs agreed that manufacturers shall be obliged to provide spare parts to independent repairers, and a digital platform shall be set up in each Member State to connect customers and repairers. The legislation also introduces rules to encourage more repairs during the warranty period instead of replacing goods. The text now moves into trilogue negotiations with the Council of the EU and the European Commission.
Patrick Breyer, Member of the European Parliament for the German Pirate Party, comments:
“Pirates support this initiative because we think users should control the tech they use every day. For IT, the requirement that updates must be reversible and shall not lead to diminished performance will be useful. But we Pirates still believe that the right to repair could go further, and would like to see this implemented in future legislation. Current laws say IT device makers must provide updates for a reasonable period of time, but they’re not required to fix known vulnerabilities quickly. That needs to change to keep us safe. The source code and tools for development of information technology should be made public so the community can take care of them when a manufacturer stops supporting a widely used product. Requiring manufacturers to enable 3D printing of spare parts in case of orphan products, as now proposed by Parliament, is a significant step in the right direction.“
Czech Pirate Party MEP Marcel Kolaja, Quaestor of the European Parliament and Member of the leading Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee (IMCO), comments:
“The ‘right to repair’ proposal is a milestone on the way to a more circular economy. Nowadays, most of the time, it is easier for consumers to throw away broken goods than to have them repaired, even if it is only a minor damage. The result is both unnecessary spending and tons of waste that burdens the environment. Today, Europeans are estimated to lose up to €12 billion a year by throwing away goods unnecessarily, generating 35 million tonnes of waste. Both are relatively easy to prevent, which we are now aiming to do with this mandate.”
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Child Protection Day: Mass surveillance prevents finding real solutions
On the European Day on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (#EndChildSexAbuseDay) on 18 November 2023, civil rights activist and MEP Patrick Breyer (Pirate Party, Greens/EFA) calls for a rational debate on effective child protection rather than embracing mass surveillance solutionism:
“Paedocriminals can circumvent any form of surveillance, but a society tackling child protection in a rational way can make a real difference. As long as surveillance projects such as chat control and blanket data retention are confused with child protection, there will be a lack of political will to invest in direct and genuine child protection. Europe urgently needs a rational debate about effective child protection rather than embracing mass surveillance solutionism.Statistically speaking, there are one or two children in every school class who have suffered sexualised violence (“Vor unseren Augen”, 2023, German only). In 70 to 85% of all cases, according to the Council of Europe, child sexual abuse is committed by someone the child knows and trusts. Perpetrators mainly lurk in the immediate vicinity and use strategies to gain trust and extort secrecy. In 90% of cases, the sexual offences are not reported to the police. Perpetrators benefit from the lack of awareness, education and professional handling of the issue of child sexual abuse.
On the Internet, organised criminals, unlike the majority of citizens, technically protect themselves from surveillance measures. The journalist and darknet expert Daniel Moßbrucker has succeeded in disrupting a paedocriminal forum and force it to give up. He calls on law enforcement agencies to initiate a paradigm shift. Their current tactics are allowing the darknet forums to grow, even though this could be curbed by proactive removal.
For better child protection, Europe needs mandatory protection programmes and responsible experts in schools, churches and sports clubs. Europe urgently needs long-term and well-funded awareness campaigns and counselling services, child and youth work as well as a strong civil society. When it comes to investigation, the solutions are raising public awareness, specially trained experts, long-term investigations, removal of child sexual exploitation content, targeted investigation orders and login traps.
It is misleading, inappropriate for the topic and contradicts the available science to claim that programmes of mass surveillance have an effect on structures and strategies of paedocriminality. Rather, the issue of child protection is being used as a pretext to politically enforce surveillance measures such as the lobbying project Chat Control or the blanket data retention of internet addresses. Our children and abuse victims deserve real, effective, court-proof and rights-respecting protection. Let’s stop spying and start protecting.”
Auto elettriche, green economy, diritti umani: ma quale sostenibilità?
Siamo nell’epoca della guerra al cambiamento climnatico e all’inquinamento.
Siamo sulla soglia di non ritorno (chi parla del 2030, ma per altri l’abbiamo già superata) che decreta il futuro del mondo quale lo conosciamo e la nostra stessa esistenza come specie. Risorse, mancano, bisogna trovare fonti alternative, bisogna ottimizzare quelle che abbiamo, bisogna cambiare paradigma: d’altro canto è scritto nei testi di antropologia che solo chi si sa adattare sopravvive.
Fatto questo preambolo ecco uno spunto di riflessione.
Versione semplificata da alcuni esempi e macro evidenze di un contesto più articolato in cui il modello è sempre quello: un mondo di squali e guerra alle risorse (siano esse materie prime, siano vite ed esseri umani).
Poi ognuno può trarre le proprie conclusioni.
Da una parte abbiamo che:
“Le navi da crociera inquinano più delle auto circolanti in Europa. Le 218 navi per il turismo marittimo di lusso hanno emesso nel 2022 4,4 volte più inquinanti di tutte le automobili del continente (253 milioni).”L’Italia è il Paese dove le navi da crociera inquinano di più, al primo posto in Ue.
Dall’altro abbiamo personaggi e realtà come ad esempio Elon Musk e la Tesla che vendono macchine ellettriche per inquinare meno, per rendere più green il pianeta.
Personalmente la prima cosa che mi chiedo è che sostenibilità nel medio lungo periodo avranno le auto elettriche?
Riusciranno a sostenere il mercato ed il confronto con quelle a combustibili fossili?
In fatto di sostenibilità c’è da ricordare anche come vengono realizzate e costruite le machine elettriche, con una batteria: le materie prime sono essenziali e fondamentali. Dove, come e chi le estrae?
Per esempio un componente per le batterie possiamo parlare di cobalto.
Spostiamoci in Africa, in RDC – Repubblica Democratica del Congo e scopriremo gironi dantestchi in cui persone di ogni sesso ed età sono intenti inn attività di estrazione mineraria, scavando, spostando sacchi, nelle peggiori situazioni infanganti i diritti fondamentali di ogni individuo.
Solo a me sembra che ci sia qualcosa che stona in tutto questo contesto?![Una visione generale dei minatori che lavorano presso la miniera artigianale di Shabara vicino a Kolwezi il 12 ottobre 2022. Circa 20.000 persone lavorano uno Shabara, a turni di 5.000 alla volta. [Junior Kannah / AFP] RDC Repubblica Democratica del Congo](https://poliverso.org/photo/link/169075 "Una visione generale dei minatori che lavorano presso la miniera artigianale di Shabara vicino a Kolwezi il 12 ottobre 2022. Circa 20.000 persone lavorano uno Shabara, a turni di 5.000 alla volta. [Junior Kannah / AFP] RDC Repubblica Democratica del Congo")