What is the Right to Repair Movement?
This article is a part of the Tech in Policy publication. TiP focuses on technology being used for good and shines a light on its more malicious or neglectful implementations. To read more, visit this link.
Last year, I expressed frustration to a colleague about the slowness of my PC, and that I had bought and installed 8GB of RAM to improve the situation. If you are like me and don’t mind (or dare I say, enjoy?) picking up a screwdriver and tinkering with electronics, installing RAM is a remarkably simple way to either repair or upgrade your PC.
Note: this is a good explainer thread on the differences between software, hardware, and firmware in case you’re looking for more background.
My complaints about the RAM situation led to a larger conversation about one pro of PCs versus Macs: that they’re much easier to fix. It’s increasingly difficult for consumers to fix their own electronics. My colleague said “you should look into the Right to Repair movement.”
Unknowingly, I’d sort of dabbled in it already. A couple years ago I bought a Nintendo (for the record, Nintendo has become something of a Right to Repair villain in modern times) that didn’t work and I fixed it as a side project. I’m no circuitry expert, but if you’ve never taken something apart and attempted to put it back together, I highly recommend. There are helpful YouTube videos aplenty for many electronics, especially for older products. That ability for consumers to fix their own electronics is the crux of the Right to Repair movement, though of course the nuances are different across industries.
Last week, the New York Times published an article detailing how the Right to Repair movement has been gaining ground in the US. Before we dive into that, let’s take a look at some background on different industries in which the Right to Repair movement is being fought.
Medical Equipment — Ventilators
During the (erstwhile) height of the pandemic, repair of life-saving ventilators were subject to restrictions by device manufacturers even though they were in short supply and heavy demand. In May, hundreds of biomedical professionals signed a letter to Congress demanding action to ease these restrictions.
The article linked directly above was written by the US Public Interest Research Group, which not only delivered the letter but also conducted surveys of medical professionals to better understand the impact of these restrictions. One anecdote describes a scenario in which a model of ventilator required repair, but the manufacturer locked its techs out of diagnostic tools because they required a “refresher” training. Of course, all trainings had been canceled and the hospital’s rep recalled because of the pandemic, creating an absurd, life-threatening scenario for a hospital already struggling with an influx of Covid patients.
Big Tech — Apple
I already mentioned Apple up top, and if you’ve ever owned one you probably have some inkling of what I’m talking about. For starters and unlike PCs, which can be opened with the right sized Phillips screwdriver, Macs are manufactured with pentalobe screws. Pentalobe screwdrivers are not standard, so most consumers don’t have them lying around or included in their household tool set. Apple first started manufacturing Macbook Pros with pentalobe screws in 2009 and iPhone 4s starting in 2011.
As annoying as this is, it’s the tip of the iceberg. In a Vice piece from 2017 about the Right to Repair movement, Jason Koebler wrote “for the better part of the last decade, every design decision Apple has made has seemingly been in the pursuit of making its products thinner and more beautiful at the expense of upgradability and repairability.”
Independent repair shops have to pay to become authorized service providers of Apple and must meet several additional requirements regarding their finances and how actively they promote Apple. Until last year, only authorized service providers were able obtain genuine parts. Reasons for Apple’s stance on repair have ranged from danger to consumers (previously linked article) to “durability”, though of course it’s likely about market control and profit rather than any genuine interest in protecting consumers or the environment.
Farming — John Deere
In 2018, the California Farm Bureau came under fire after it signed an agreement which severely limited farmers’ ability to repair their equipment. The California Farm Bureau is supposed to lobby on behalf of farmers, not against them. The agreement was signed as ostensible Right to Repair victory, though it was anything but. What it supposedly gained were agreements from manufacturers to make repair manuals, product guides, and on-board diagnostics available to farmers by 2021. These are all concessions the manufacturers had made earlier in the year! Manufacturers did not agree to make replacement parts accessible and can also exploit loopholes in the agreement.
Cars — Automakers
Returning momentarily to the legislation mentioned above, on Election Day 2020, Massachusetts will be voting on Question 1, which expands an existing Right to Repair law passed in 2013. The original law, though passed in Massachusetts, spurred an agreement between two automaker lobby groups and the Coalition for Auto Repair Equality, in which automakers agreed to bring their vehicles to the same right to repair standard nationwide.
Question 1 would bring telematic data into the law’s purview, mandating expanded access to this data for vehicle owners and independent repair shops and requiring that it be accessible through a mobile phone app.
Lobby groups for both sides have raised huge amounts of money in an attempt to sway public opinion. The Massachusetts Right to Repair Coalition (Yes on 1 campaign) has raised over $24 million and the Coalition for Safe and Secure Data (No on 1 campaign) has raised over $26 million, good indications of how much is at stake in terms of corporate profit.
By restricting repair services and access to parts, companies establish a monopoly on these aspects of their business. Last September, Congress launched an inquiry into Apple’s practices to this end. Although it’s clear these companies have millions of dollars to spend lobbying against the Right to Repair movement, its growth indicates that we can expect to see more legal action and legislation protecting consumers and independent repair shops.
Less clear is why more consumers aren’t interested in or aware of the movement. When it comes to everyday household gadgets, there’s no question they have become more complex and perhaps more intimidating to attempt to fix. The stakes for attempting to fix something like a Playstation 4 are likely higher than for a thirty-year-old Nintendo.
For anyone who is interested, this was a fascinating read about the resurgence of repair during early pandemic days. There are many resources available, from YouTube tutorials to iFixit, which has an extensive library of repair guides and forums. Happy fixing!
