This is one of the handful of things me (a leftist) and my rural Trump supporting family both heavily agree upon. It’s nice to find some common ground in such a divided America.
I think we got lucky on it that John Deere and Car companies have been trying to ruin repairability long before it was cool.
And “right to repair” is a nice simple slogan, even the most rural person in America can hear that and will probably go “Fuck yeah I should have the right to repair my car!”
Trump/Musk (especially Musk) could totally come out against this if it gains traction.
I guarantee, your family’s tune would change
To me it’s weird to even think of repairing stuff you buy as a “right” - that’s a given. The issue is the nonexistent “right” of a seller to restrict what a customer does with a product after buying it. That’s as ridiculous as a shoe company trying to dictate where you can or can’t walk. It’s a no-brainer, and should never have to be argued in court or anywhere else.
When written out like this, it seems simple as - but the most simple version really isn’t what’s at stake. Companies make and trademark specialized tools for their goods, to prevent third parties from providing repairs. Warrantys are written to keep a company from being liable for repair/replacement if a customer attempts to repair a product themselves.
Pretty much every case in the right to repair movement is a challenge to a legally acceptable means of market capture, that just happens to create a stupendously shitty consumer environment.
+1 Insightful
Just got a framework laptop and I’m really happy
Local & state level is where a lot of the progress will live on in the near future. Call your local legislators & vote in every local election - they are way more frequent across the country than you may realize
Just had my brother in law show me a concept phone where you just put in block modules for the things you want and need in a phone. Want more battery? Take off your camera block module and plug in more battery block modules.
Obviously the concept as presented is near impossible to achieve. I told him that and said we can get close. I showed him framework laptops that are trying to achieve the very thing he wanted (to a certain extent). He said that if they could make that a phone he would switch from his apple ecosystem in a heart beat. The ability to swap for a bigger speaker on the fly for get togethers and parties was tantalizing (big music guy).
Just interesting because even non tech people want this when you sell it to them properly. They don’t actually want a walled garden ecosystem that is “simple”.
I’m feverishly imagining smart phones with old school slider keyboards
the fact that this is and has ever even been an issue is wild.
Am I the only one that finds it weird that Louis Rossman is not even mentioned in those articles about right to repair?
I mean, he said that he didn’t care at all if his name was mentioned or not and that he would be happy if the movement got traction “by itself”, without him being involved.
But I still think it’s weird that he is not even mentioned when they are giving examples of pro-repair groups/shops etc. Idk…
I tend to assume malice with regards to the news. They likely dont want to drive people to his give him traffic because then they might agree with him.
The news are owned by the same billionaire class as the companies that make many products.
Right to repair used to be intrinsically understood by almost everyone. Electronics used standard components and came with the schematics. Car had government managed standardized interchangeable parts. Now led headlight are 2000$ and unrepairable…
