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A 17-Year-Old Has Become Michigan's Leading Right To Repair Advocate (vice.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: Surya Raghavendran of Ann Arbor, Michigan isn't your average 17-year-old. Not only does the high school senior run a small business repairing iPhones when he's not in class, but he's raising awareness about people's right to fix their own devices without paying companies like Apple exorbitant fees. "People should be able to choose where they want to get their devices repaired," Raghavendran told me over the phone. "Right to repair will decrease the amount of e-waste and people will retain their devices much longer with suitable repair networks." Raghavendran is doing more than just talking about right to repair, he's become one of the leading advocates for a right to repair law in the state by pushing his lawmakers to introduce legislation that would protect a consumer's right to repair.
Raghavendran started researching the laws around repairing electronics, and he joined up with Environment Michigan -- an environmental activist group -- and started going to Lansing, the state capitol, to ask politicians what they were doing to protect people's right to repair their own devices. Raghavendran sent an email to state senator Rebekah Warren who called him in for a meeting and told him to start a petition. Since July, he's been asking for stories from the public about why the right to repair is important. The right to repair fight is happening all across the country at the local level and Raghavendran's petition has drawn support from people like like Nathan Proctor, the Director of the Campaign for the Right to Repair at US PIRG. Repair.org, a group pushing for right to repair laws all over the country, has draft legislation it wants to get in front of Michigan's state legislature. Proctor has been working with Raghavendran, Environment Michigan, and Michigan legislators to draft right to repair legislation. Proctor wants to pass a right to repair bill that is similar to the one passed in Massachusetts that forced automotive companies to share diagnostic information with third party repair shops. The law passed in 2012 "set a precedent and the industry rolled out the changes nationally," reports Motherboard.
Raghavendran started researching the laws around repairing electronics, and he joined up with Environment Michigan -- an environmental activist group -- and started going to Lansing, the state capitol, to ask politicians what they were doing to protect people's right to repair their own devices. Raghavendran sent an email to state senator Rebekah Warren who called him in for a meeting and told him to start a petition. Since July, he's been asking for stories from the public about why the right to repair is important. The right to repair fight is happening all across the country at the local level and Raghavendran's petition has drawn support from people like like Nathan Proctor, the Director of the Campaign for the Right to Repair at US PIRG. Repair.org, a group pushing for right to repair laws all over the country, has draft legislation it wants to get in front of Michigan's state legislature. Proctor has been working with Raghavendran, Environment Michigan, and Michigan legislators to draft right to repair legislation. Proctor wants to pass a right to repair bill that is similar to the one passed in Massachusetts that forced automotive companies to share diagnostic information with third party repair shops. The law passed in 2012 "set a precedent and the industry rolled out the changes nationally," reports Motherboard.
... Finding a job after this. I wouldn't be surprised if he finds himself on a no-fly list as well. The moment he turns 18 he'll be sued into the gutter.
Then the right to repair imposes a 50% tax on such devices and suddenly screws and connectors appear in the next version.
If you believe in the market, someone will want to undercut everyone else and will make a repairable device to do it. If you don't believe in the market, next step is ban the irreparable devices entirely.
I'm repeating myself with this comment, but I think it does bear repeating. The right to repair is not simply the "right to repair", but also the "right to upgrade".
One of the biggest issues with modern consumer electronics has been the shift towards devices in which the owner is actively discouraged from attempting to upgrade when a device reaches capacity or fails to perform adequately, in favour of buying a new machine from the vendor.
This covers a broad range of technology, from laptops and portable computers (where a tech-savvy user might like to upgrade RAM, storage and/or battery units), through desktop PCs, mobile phones, all types of personal transportation, but especially cars, trucks and motorcycles. Indeed, as computing power and technology becomes more prevalent, so the right to repair and upgrade becomes more important.
Manufacturers are going to argue that (for example) components soldered to motherboards are inherently more reliable than socketed or cabled components, since the soldered approach can reduce the chance of "dry joints". But that is a false claim. For a start, manufacturing has reached a level of sophistication where this sort of risk can be "designed out" with good component layout. More importantly, though, shouldn't we be able to choose?
If they were forced to give out new assemblies, they could charge an arm and a leg for them.
That's typical of the USA's bold and risk-taking attitude in politics: Let's not even try to solve the problem because we might fail.
He started pestering legislators, met with one of them, started a petition that has drawn support from national organizations.
"Leading" in this context means "exercising leadership", so I'd say yes, he qualifies as *a* leading advocate. "*The*" leading advocate is clearly hyperbole, but that's the way people think about these things. We like to personify abstract issues, to put a single face on complicated political movements. George Washington is the undisputed "Father of His Country", but there were many others who could lay claim to that title with equal justice.
I'd like to turn this around and ask, what is it about this person that makes him undeserving of recognition as a leader?
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