Originally published at: https://ethical.net/repair/right-to-repair-electronic-devices/
This fight shouldn’t be necessary. But the advent of fast electronics, the risk of prison terms for trying to extend computers’ lives, and the deterioration of sustainable practices over the last few decades has led to the inevitable: a global movement asking for the right to repair. In the 21st century, repairing your electronic device…
I think it’s worth noting that this is also a geographical thing. Most things are a lot more repairable in ‘less developed’ countries than they are in the US or Europe.
When I have had phones and other things break when I have been in ‘developing’ countries, I have usually just found little shops where someone will take it apart, diagnose a problem and fix it while you wait.
It’s still completely doable, it’s just not a thing in most of the ‘first world’ countries anymore.
That’s the problem: it’s not a thing because the big manufacturers don’t allow repairs by making their products impossible to repair by design or by making sure they are the only ones who can repair them, etc. Consumers in the US and Europe can afford to change devices often. I guess they have bigger fish to fry than control repairs in every country of the world 
Hello everyone, Hi John,
That is true, and the funny thing is many of the electronic parts that these ‘less developed’ countries use to fix electronics, they buy in the USA. I have met a guy that very often have dozen of brand new smartphones that were outdated 2 to 3 years, and he got them from the states and was selling them for a bargain (way less than you could find them on anywhere online).
All of that to say that if the ‘less developed’ countries can do it, the ‘first world’ countries can actually do it even better, it all depends on the behavior of the consumers.
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Sincerely,
JoeBlaster
Hello everyone,
Consumerism is a behavior, it comes from the need each person has to buy something, and more often than not, it is driven by validation. Many people don’t want a smartphone because of what it actually does. If you remove the Apple logo from the iPhone and put it on sale for 499$ the vast majority would not want it because they have been brainwashed to want the Apple logo.
I think it is time to openly talk about that behavior and not remain in silence when one of us gets to that level, it is a matter of self-discipline. We can improve if we openly talk about it. Then let’s start by introducing the idea to our peers, then our children, and then eventually, one day, they will understand the trick and start the tedious process of getting their lives back.
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Sincerely,
JoeBlaster
France has just launched the first in the world, that I know of, ‘Repairability Index’. It means that manufacturers of certain types of electronic devices have to publish a score of how repairable it is, availability of spare parts, etc. and shops (physical and online) have to display the info at the point of sale. France launches repairability index
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