Repairing broken or damaged devices has always been a difficult and frustrating process, Right to Repair Laws will help
Most companies that produce computers, tablets, phones,
and other electronics have gone to great lengths to keep the ability to repair their devices to themselves.
For a very long time now, any person who takes a device apart and repairs it themselves has voided the warranty,
and the result is that the manufacturer will no longer take responsibility for anything that is wrong with their product.
There are a lot of different methods which manufacturers have used to prevent consumers from repairing their devices themselves,
or even having them professionally repaired at a place not approved and accredited by the manufacturer.
Right to Repair Laws Blocks to Repairs:
Manufacturers have come up with some truly diabolical but ingenuous ways to block DIY repairs to their products.
Some companies have created cases for their electronics
that con only be opened using a proprietary tool that is not available to the general public.
Others refuse to offer replacement parts for sale to anyone,
keeping them in-house and only distributing them to their authorized repair shops.
User manuals not only don’t have instructions for repairing the product,
they often include strict warnings that consumers are not to attempt to repair it themselves.
All of this has had a profound effect on the amount of waste generated by the electronics industry,
since in far too many cases devices get thrown away when they could be repaired.
Resistance to these Practices:
There is a growing movement throughout North America
and Europe that is working to have laws put in place that would prevent manufacturers from continuing these harmful practices.
These activists want to see laws in place that would force manufacturers to sell tools and spare parts on the open market.
In the last couple of years, some countries have enacted such laws, and others will follow soon.