Canada needs to fix restrictions around DIY tech repairs
Right to repair our digital devices is one step to a more responsible world
We all have that person in our lives who’s just good at fixing things. While some people would rather throw something out or call in a professional, there are some special folk who are just handy, people who can seem to figure out how to fix a leak in the bathroom, or wiggle something to get a car to start.
Hand those same people a smartphone or many modern computers, however, and their handiness would be of little use. The devices we use to organize our lives are remarkably hard to fix or tinker with.
From special screws or parts that aren’t user replaceable, to the simple fact that many devices are designed to be replaced in a couple of years, and the old ideal of fixing and keeping something is often impossible with digital tech.
That may change with the growing right-to-repair movement, a push from open-tech activists to force companies to stop restricting how digital devices can be repaired or even used.
In the U.S., President Joe Biden recently issued an executive order to create new rules to prevent companies from stopping consumers fixing their own products.
It’s a necessary change and one that Canada needs to implement too.
It goes beyond repair; at its heart, the issue of right to repair is about whether or not individuals have the right to do as they wish with the things they buy and own.
Right now, if you have one of those sinking moments as you watch your phone fall to the ground and crack, your options to get it fixed are somewhat limited.
That’s because the tools and software to fix digital devices are often closely guarded by companies.
That means that you have to take it to an “official” repair centre, lest you void your warranty. Don’t get it fixed through the company itself and you’re out of luck if something else goes wrong.
The problems with this are many, but perhaps the most obvious is cost.
If you’ve ever broken a phone or laptop you know the heart-stopping price tag of getting something fixed through official channels. Repairs often run into the hundreds of dollars.
The right to repair might allow independent businesses access to the information they need to fix devices, but at less than the exorbitant cost Apple or similar companies might charge.
But there is more at stake than just money: It’s about how we as a society use our most valuable tools.
Apple has lobbied hard against right to repair. In part it’s about protecting their economic interests and tightly integrated ecosystem.
But it’s also about how Apple designs products: It does not want to be constrained by the need to have a user-replaceable battery or easily replaceable parts.
That isn’t as spurious an argument as it sounds.
Design and repairability are often in tension, and the thin, slick design of modern digital devices has been a boon for portability.
In letting the whims of designers and marketers dictate the design of the billions of digital devices in the world, we’ve also created a culture of disposability and planned obsolescence.
Devices are meant to the tossed away after a few years, particularly because battery life degrades over time.
But try and change a battery on an iphone yourself; it requires specialized tools and know-how and is all but out of reach for most individuals.
Right-to-repair legislation would force companies to make better decisions upstream in the design process so that the environmental cost of disposable devices could be dealt with, instead of moving us closer to an ideal of reuse and repurposing.
Ultimately, the core of rightto-repair legislation is about the first of the key words in the term: rights. Companies don’t just tell us where we can get things fixed; they also tell us how we can use devices, from where we can “officially” install software, to how they might be modified, to what ends they can be put.
The transition to a digital world happened almost in lockstep with another enormous historical change: the looming environmental threat represented by climate change. Both of those historic shifts have and will require profound changes in how we approach the world.
Where those things meet is in a culture of wastefulness that strikes at the heart of the climate change issue: that how we have structured our economy and our societies is at odds with what we must do to avoid environmental cataclysm.
Right to repair is one way we can start to make a shift toward a more responsible world. In part, it is about living up to the internet-era ideal of empowering individuals to use digital tools in varied, innovative ways.
But it’s also about what we will save in enabling a culture of fixing and tinkering — that in making a phone easier to fix, we will also be on the path to living up to our responsibilities to the earth and future generations, too.