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Why We Must Fight For the Right To Repair Our Electronics (ieee.org)
Kyle Wiens and Gay Gordon-Byrne explain via IEEE Spectrum how people in the United States can preserve their right to repair electronics, and why people must fight for the right in the first place. Here's an excerpt from their report: So how can people in the United States preserve their right to repair electronics? The answer is now apparent: through right-to-repair legislation enacted at the state level. Popular support on this issue has been clear since 2012, when 86 percent of the voters in Massachusetts endorsed a ballot initiative that would "[require] motor vehicle manufacturers to allow vehicle owners and independent repair facilities in Massachusetts to have access to the same vehicle diagnostic and repair information made available to the manufacturers' Massachusetts dealers and authorized repair facilities." Carmakers howled in protest, but after the law passed, they decided not to fight independent repair. Indeed, in January 2014 they entered into a national memorandum of understanding [PDF], voluntarily extending the terms of the Massachusetts law to the entire country. The commercial vehicle industry followed suit in October 2015. Now we need right-to-repair legislation for other kinds of equipment, too, particularly electronic equipment, which is the focus of "digital right to repair" initiatives in many states.
Similar to the Massachusetts legislation for automobiles, these digital-right-to-repair proposals would require manufacturers to provide access to service documentation, tools, firmware, and diagnostic programs. They also would require manufacturers to sell replacement parts to consumers and independent repair facilities at reasonable prices. The bills introduced this year in a dozen states have some variations. The ones in Kansas and Wyoming, for example, are limited to farm equipment. The one most likely to be adopted soon is in Massachusetts, which seeks to outlaw the monopoly on repair parts and information within the state. If it passes, electronics manufacturers will probably change their practices nationwide. Consumers would then have more choices when something breaks. The next time your smartphone screen cracks, your microwave oven gets busted, or your TV dies, you may be able to get it fixed quickly, affordably, and fairly. And you, not the manufacturer, would decide where your equipment is repaired: at home, with the manufacturer, or at a local repair shop that you trust.
Similar to the Massachusetts legislation for automobiles, these digital-right-to-repair proposals would require manufacturers to provide access to service documentation, tools, firmware, and diagnostic programs. They also would require manufacturers to sell replacement parts to consumers and independent repair facilities at reasonable prices. The bills introduced this year in a dozen states have some variations. The ones in Kansas and Wyoming, for example, are limited to farm equipment. The one most likely to be adopted soon is in Massachusetts, which seeks to outlaw the monopoly on repair parts and information within the state. If it passes, electronics manufacturers will probably change their practices nationwide. Consumers would then have more choices when something breaks. The next time your smartphone screen cracks, your microwave oven gets busted, or your TV dies, you may be able to get it fixed quickly, affordably, and fairly. And you, not the manufacturer, would decide where your equipment is repaired: at home, with the manufacturer, or at a local repair shop that you trust.
The problem is that the new TV costs only $3-500 and has much higher resolution, much less power hungry and includes all sorts of bells and whistles your 10yo LCD doesnâ(TM)t have.
Go to a repair shop and youâ(TM)re at $198 for labor before they even know they need $25-100 in parts. There is a brand new TV that saves you energy for the cost of a repair.
Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
When I heard about farmers whose tractors (John Deere) stopped working because they repaired it with a non-OEM part and the tractors telematics shut down because it didn't recognize the new part (non-electronic part BTW). I knew a shit-storm was coming. Then when I saw how John Deere responded to the outcry I knew it would be a protracted battle to get companies to do the right thing.
"A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it." - K
Sure, we sometimes choose "small" over "easily taken apart". I accept that the masses wants a small phone, even if I might like a clunky but consumer-serviceable item.
"Small & tightly crammed" isn't really the problem though. Using glue instead of screws is a problem. A battery soldered so not replaceable even by those who bother with the tine screws, that is a problem. Treat the phone nicely, and the battery is guaranteed to go first.
They shouldn't even try to put up any kind of legal obstacle - like the madness we see with printer cartridges. Just live with the cheap refills - if it really bothers them, charge more for the printer itself.
In this video Louis Rossman explains some of the ways Apple uses to make their products hard to repair for NO good reason apart from their own profit. He tells of his colleagues (independent repair shops) having their posts deleted when all they were saying is that such and such CAN be in fact repaired. Apple will not repair most damages even if it involves the user losing his/her data, and even if they are perfectly repairable.
Moreover, Rossman explains how Apple uses dirty tricks to terminate the warranty even when the user did nothing unauthorized.
Just watch it and be angry. Be very fucking angry.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
Volvo sells its DiCE and VIDA diagnostic suite to anyone who wants to buy it. There are no subscription charges unless you want to download new firmware for the car, in which case you can buy a 3-day subscription for cheap.
The VIDA software is free and the DiCE adapter is a few hundred bucks, and gives you complete manufacturer view of every on-board system in the car. You can modify a surprising number of parameters in the car, perform self-tests, diagnostics, and so on.
I don't know why all manufacturers don't do this.
A friend of mine owns a garage that works on high end cars. He told me that on Mercedes now you can't even replace the battery without the involvement of MB. If you replace it the car literally will not start without being told it is okay by a MB Authorized shop, which of course costs money. He is not asking for MB to help him repair the car and frankly, if a MB owner wants to replace the battery on an out-of-warranty vehicle he damn well *should* have the right to do so. It isn't MB's job to be big brother and make sure the owner doesn't mess something up once MB's warranty responsibility ends.
Some things would make more sense than others. For example, phones can be quite expensive. Sure, the things are fairly complex, but the VAST majority of potential repairs all come down to simply diagnosed problems. Worn out battery, cracked screen, damaged USB port or headphone jack. You don't need much in the way of tools to diagnose those.
What we really need is a right to repairability (but that would be harder to define and enforce). It shouldn't be a big deal to swap out a cellphone screen.