The right to repair movement

The consumer technology space is bustling with upgraded versions of smartphones, laptops and wearable devices being released every few years. But what happens if something goes wrong with your pricier gadget. You take it to a company-authorised service centre, only to find that the price of repair is out of your budget. You’d rather spend a little bit more and buy another product itself. 

Apple routinely puts certain older versions of its products on the “obsolete” list. This means that Apple stops offering hardware support for those products at its service centres. Most manufacturers of electronic devices also dictate who can repair their products, by authorising only a few select “service centres”, and by making it a very pricey affair for the average consumer. 

Consumers are now questioning all this as part of the “right to repair” movement. 

The US has passed a law to this effect. In July 2021, US President Joe Biden called on the Federal Trade Commission to curb restrictions imposed by manufacturers that limit consumers’ ability to repair their gadgets on their own terms.

And the UK’s Right To Repair law came into effect from July 1. It requires appliance manufacturers to provide consumers access to spare parts and make complicated parts available in professional repair shops.

Proponents of the right to repair movement argue that such laws would boost local repair shops and small businesses. They point out that the purchase of any electronic device signifies a shifting of power and ownership from the manufacturer to the consumer.

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As such, the consumer should be able to repair their own product the way they deem fit, instead of relying on the manufacturer. 

They also argue that electronics manufacturers are working around a concept of “planned obsolescence”. This means that electronics devices are built to last only for a specific period of time, after which they are meant to be replaced. 

You might be using an older version of the Apple Macbook, which will be moved to the “obsolete” list in a couple of years. So once you start facing some performance issues with your older Macbook, you won’t be able to get it repaired anywhere.

In this case, electronics manufacturers artificially reduce the lifespan of their products. “Right to repair” advocates also talk about curbing environmental stress by mandating electronics manufacturers to allow third-party repair of their products. 

Electronics manufacturers, meanwhile, are opposing the ‘right to repair’ movement. They are arguing that opening up their intellectual property to third-party repair shops could jeopardise the safety and security of their devices. And in the era of phone hacks and cyber attacks, one cannot brush aside such concerns either. 

Interestingly, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak recently voiced his support for the movement. He said and I quote, “We wouldn’t have had an Apple had I not grown up in a very open technology world.” The tech giant has long been criticised for allowing repairs of its devices only by authorised technicians and not providing spare parts or manuals on how to fix its products.

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