Tag: legislation

Could the Right to Repair Come to Court Reporting?

As told to me by a valued reader, the right to repair movement is coming to U.S. Industries. Simply put, it’s a demand on manufacturers to make parts and manuals more accessible so that people can repair their own devices.

The Right to Repair Movement, googled by Stenonymous.com on 12/21/24

And again, as told to me by this valued reader, United States farmers have made ground in this area against John Deere.

Apple has had pressure placed on it by consumers — and consumers want more!

There was even a bill introduced when it came to automobiles.

So could stenographers, voice writers, and even digital reporters fight for this same right to repair? I think so. To be fair, when it comes to electronics, I’ve always run into “this would be cheaper to replace.” But now, looking back, I don’t know how much of that is because of labor cost and how much of that is because manuals are not readily accessible to fix these things.

I imagine our own right to repair movement would start with our stenotypes. Sure, Stenograph could see the writing on the wall and issue these manuals and parts listings freely, but I sense it’s something we’d have to force through legislation. Since getting the federal government to do anything is nearly impossible, it would probably have to happen at a state level in states where Stenograph and others have significant business such as New York, California, Texas, and Illinois — the four biggest states for court reporting identified by the Ducker Report over ten years ago.

Let’s put it this way, it would help stop them from holding us hostage by stopping support for our older stenotypes every few years.

Maybe our associations could even team up with Right to Repair Associations like The Repair Association.

(In fact, their website mentions the state legislature too. I guess they have the same faith in the federal government I do.)

After targeting our stenotypes — or perhaps concurrently — I would target our laptops. Imagine every laptop coming with a nice booklet about how to troubleshoot and repair certain parts? Sure, this information exists out in the world, but it would be nice if it was accessible by default from manufacturers. As an example, I recently had a laptop malfunction. Luckily it was under warranty. But it needed a new motherboard and RAM. Imagine if it had been out of warranty! How nice would it have been to have a step-by-step guide explaining how to get into the laptop casing without accidentally ripping the thing in half?

(The joke is I did that while extracting a hard drive from an ancient laptop very, very recently. I was too stupid to figure out how to slide the case off even with all the screws out.)

Destroying laptops 101 by Christopher Day

The point is simple. Taking the repair monopoly away from manufacturers and putting it firmly into the hands of consumers that want to “risk it.” Life’s all about risk and reward. Don’t we deserve our shot?

After reading more into this movement, I’m in full support. This is something we can and should do — with price raise caps implemented right into the law to douse the fire on any manufacturer that thinks they’re going to use this as an excuse to significantly raise prices.

Any New Yorkers that want to get together on this, let me know.

I’d offer elsewhere, but if there’s anything I’ve learned from life it’s that you can’t be everywhere at once without burning out.

Is the right to repair worth fighting for?

You decide!

Associations and Why You Matter

The other day on Facebook I came across some rather honest remarks about the upcoming NYSCRA social. They said hey, Diamond Reporting has been depressing our rates for a while, how are we supposed to feel with their names on this event?

Let’s just say we have touched on the fact that sponsors of events do not control the event. The working reporter controls the NYSCRA leadership, and when you sign up as a member you become a part of the decision-making process.

This blog is all about the working reporter. By the time I’m done with it, I’ll have figured out how to organize the dozens of posts a bit better and the 200 or so monthly readers will have an easier time finding information. That said, it’s time to talk less about Stenonymous and more about you.

You matter. I did the math on it. Think of anything you want to legislate in New York. Stenographers in the courts? Bring back the Workers Comp stenographers? Copy protection since courts often rule our transcripts are not copyright protected? This is all done with funding, representation, and grassroots action. Lobbying is expensive and can cost 5,000 to 50,000 a month. In a six-month New York legislative session that might be 30,000 to 300,000 dollars a year. Seems impossible, right? But let’s use some easy numbers. There are 1,300 reporters on the NYSCRA Facebook page. If 500 of those reporters (38 percent) donated 100 bucks a year, which is less than the $165 annual membership, NYSCRA would have a lobbying war chest of 50,000 a year cash. In only two years, NYSCRA would have the cash for a $100,000 lobbying campaign. What could we do with a biannual lobbying campaign of 100k? Even assuming we fail half of all campaigns for ten years, that’s 2 or 3 successful campaigns. Between playing political Powerball and grassroots action, we have a serious shot at making a difference. For a C-note a year and a letter or two when there’s a campaign on, January to June, you’re looking at bolstering your field, securing your job, and protecting all of your fellow stenographers.

And I’m not saying 100 a year is easy to give up. I’ve given up thousands of dollars in membership fees and donations to organizations over the years. I’ve felt the sting of putting down money I didn’t necessarily have. I felt the pain when the Workers Comp campaigns failed. It cost a lot of good people their job and made those that kept the job miserable. I know a lot of you reading felt what I felt. I know a lot of you reading had to do more than feel it. Some of you had to live it. But there are two options: Suffer through the defeats so that we might see victory, or put our heads in the sand and wait for the next big thing to come around and threaten our jobs.

There’s a lot to say for the human factor. Machines don’t vote. Politicians will side with stenographers when they learn how many stenographers they represent. But the bottom line is we have to put together resources to educate them. To do that, you matter.