Right to repair

Why it's needed

Products are becoming harder and harder for people to repair.

• Cars
• Appliances
• Computers
• Smartphones
• Farm equipment
• Medical equipment

Examples

This section has not been filled in yet. 💬 discussion TODO: Describe things in story format. Cover cases such as Apple, John Deere, and medical equipment (ventilator mouthpiece example, etc.).

How it happens

The manufacturer creates a monopoly on repairs, so that no one else has the tools or parts required to fix the device. They can charge as much as they want for even the smallest repair, or deny the ability to repair at all (which pressures customers to buy a new product instead). They use a few tactics to make this happen:

• Patenting the replacement parts, so no third-party company can make them.
• Deliberately designing the device's recovery features to be inaccessible without specialized software or hardware that only the company has access to.

Effects

• Even when you buy and own something, you have little control on how you can use it.
• More things get replaced instead of repaired.
  • Raises the cost of living (both directly and indirectly - for example health care costs in the case of medical equipment)
  • Environmental impact (via more manufacturing and more e-waste)

Laws that need to be passed

This section has not been filled in yet.

Next steps / Actions to take ✊🏻✊🏽✊🏿

This section has not been filled in yet.

FAQ

This section has not been filled in yet. 💬 discussion TODO: debunk that fearmongering ad about stalkers. Show factually: ~ why it's not a valid concern ~ why any hypothetical risk would be higher without right-to-repair anyway  ~ or failing that, compare the hypothetical risk to the real risks & impacts of not having right to repair ~ lastly, who funded the ad

See also

• Planned obsolescence
• More discussion TODO: I will link to a related page about hardware made unusable by discontinued online services. I'm currently drafting up that page but still have to decide on a page title for it.

External links

• Repair Wiki - another awesome wiki, dedicated entirely to the technical details of repairing any device
• How John Deere Robs Farmers Of $4 Billion A Year