> why do consumers need the government to tell them this is a valuable aspect of the technology they've purchased. It they don't value it they don't value it,

> why do consumers need the government to tell them this is a valuable aspect of the technology they've purchased. It they don't value it they don't value it, I would argue that a lot of consumers _do_ value it, but they don't know enough to ask about that up front. Most people want to buy a thing, then use that thing, and when it breaks they reasonably assume that they should be able to get it fixed if they'd like. Cars work this way, appliances work this way, etc. I think the reason why people don't ask for this up front is that (1) most people would assume they have the right to repair (and thus don't think to ask) and/or (2) life is short, and we shouldn't need an advanced degree specializing in a particular category of products in order to know all the ins and outs of buying one :)