Miguel Afonso Caetano<p>"A new memo from Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is calling on defense contractors to grant the Army the right-to-repair. The Wednesday memo is a document about “Army Transformation and Acquisition Reform” that is largely vague but highlights the very real problems with IP constraints that have made it harder for the military to repair damaged equipment.</p><p>Hegseth made this clear at the bottom of the memo in a subsection about reform and budget optimization. “The Secretary of the Army shall…identify and propose contract modifications for right to repair provisions where intellectual property constraints limit the Army's ability to conduct maintenance and access the appropriate maintenance tools, software, and technical data—while preserving the intellectual capital of American industry,” it says. “Seek to include right to repair provisions in all existing contracts and also ensure these provisions are included in all new contracts.”</p><p>Over the past decade, corporations have made it difficult for people to repair their own stuff and, somehow, the military is no exception. Things are often worse for the Pentagon. Many of the contracts it signs for weapons systems come with decades long support and maintenance clauses. When officials dig into the contracts they’ve often found that contractors are overcharging for basic goods or intentionally building weapons with proprietary parts and then charging the Pentagon exorbitant fees for access to replacements."</p><p><a href="https://www.404media.co/army-will-seek-right-to-repair-clauses-in-all-its-contracts/" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">404media.co/army-will-seek-rig</span><span class="invisible">ht-to-repair-clauses-in-all-its-contracts/</span></a></p><p><a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/USA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>USA</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/Trump" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Trump</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/RightToRepair" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RightToRepair</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/USArmy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>USArmy</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/DoD" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>DoD</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/IP" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>IP</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/Patents" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Patents</span></a> <a href="https://tldr.nettime.org/tags/Pentagon" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Pentagon</span></a></p>