[Music]
this year's fight for the right to
repair your own stuff is on with bills
in at least 25 states and public
hearings about right to repair in
washington and illinois state last week
right to repair activists are optimistic
about 2022. house bill 1810 relates to
regulations on original manufacturers of
digital electronic products and the
access to repair options for those
products what was most exciting about
this hearing was actually who wasn't
there specifically microsoft microsoft's
headquarters are in washington state and
every time a right to repair bill has
been introduced there before microsoft's
lobbyists have been out in full force
this time though i'm so excited to say
that not only the repair advocates have
been at the table but microsoft has also
microsoft is now neutral today and for
us that's a really big win and it's true
a major electronics manufacturer not
fighting against a bill like this is a
big deal manufacturers have restricted
repair to all sorts of things by
controlling access to spare parts by
requiring proprietary tools to open
cases and by claiming that making repair
instructions public they'd be giving
away trade secrets how to change your
phone's battery shouldn't be a trade
secret conveniently repair restrictions
also let manufacturers keep a monopoly
on repair which means they can set
prices wherever they like and push you
to buy something new instead the
washington bill would require
manufacturers to make parts tools and
repair information available to
independent repair shops in january 2023
and to individual consumers in january
2024. representative mia gregerson the
prime sponsor of the bill explained how
the pandemic is made right to repair
essential for kids in underserved school
districts this bill became even more
obvious when the pandemic hit us a
couple years ago i was already working
on closing the digital divide and
overnight we realized that
we had over a million kiddos in the k-12
system trying to learn remote for the
first time in history
while we had laptop drives and we use
some of our federal dollars to purchase
tens of thousands of devices
as you can imagine two years later those
devices are going to need some
some repair and for every day that those
devices are out of the hands of our
children they're they're missing a day
of learning president of the school
directors association sandy hayes echoed
this concern many students throughout
the state both in rural and urban areas
have limited access to hardware software
and the internet this includes
availability and affordability so much
of the student of student work is done
on devices that these students will
continue to be part of what we call the
homework app student it will take the
close to 10 years before we have the
funds to replace a current device i am
not here to ask you for the money i am
asking but rather that you would keep
our costs down by allowing districts and
students to do minor repairs gregerson
explained why right to repair is
important from an environmental
perspective this bill is good for the
environment we know that every single
day in washington over 8 700 phones are
thrown in the garbage they're just not
usable
you can imagine that this bill alone
will be kinder to our earth kinder to
the environment by just keeping the
phones working just one more day longer
nicole walter washington public interest
research group has some of the same
concerns
retro repair is about choice if you
personally would never even consider
taking your device to a local repair
shop instead of the manufacturer's
authorized repair shop right to repair
is still beneficial it makes sure that
the manufacturer is kept honest by
requiring them to compete with other
providers
and for folks who don't live anywhere
near the manufacturer's store right to
repair is a lifesaver mitch kramer who
started fixco cell phone and computer
repair out of his bedroom a decade ago
spoke on behalf of independent fixers
who are afraid they're being pushed out
as an independent shop owner
you know i've been watching right to
repair for years knowing that if we
don't do something different if we don't
get right to repair legislation passed
we're all going to be out of business
that's thousands of us across the
country but it's more than just repair
shop owners who are concerned cyber
security expert tara wheeler spoke about
why right to repair is important for all
tech employers as an employer in the
state of washington i need a pool of
curious minds unafraid to experiment and
learn in tech if manufacturers restrict
the right to poke around in their
devices to only those people who have
their explicit blessing our bright young
engineers will have to move to silicon
valley to learn how iphones work patrick
connor of the washington state small
business owners association which
represents independent repair shops and
manufacturer authorized service centers
found that our balloting so far shows
nearly 64 of our small business members
are in favor of this bill which is a
more than three to one margin over those
who are opposed based on these results
nfib is pleased to support house bill
1810 and encourages the committee to
approve it the opposition mostly stuck
to the safe tire talking points
consumers currently have a variety of
professional repair options including
independent repair providers or a
manufacturer's authorized repair network
sometimes that's the choice between one
apple store 100 miles away and another
200 miles away it's not much of a choice
it would mandate that manufacturers of
digital electronic equipment provide
unvetted third parties with sensitive
diagnostic information
software tools and parts you know
sensitive diagnostic information like
the fact that your iphone has touched
disease the critics also offered the
usual overblown claims about battery
safety the temperature of a lithium-ion
battery during thermal runaway can
exceed 600 degrees centigrade
and these events can occur due to
mechanical damage improper handling
poor battery design inadequate safety
features for manufacturing defects in
2019 the ftc found that manufacturers
consistently overstate the risk of
thermal runaway the ftc unanimously
agreed that there was quote scant
evidence to support manufacturers
justifications for repair restrictions
charlie brown of the consumer technology
association tried to make it sound like
he'd been open to negotiation and repair
advocates have been unreasonable we
appreciate that this bill is before your
committee once again this year
unfortunately
we are still opposed to this legislation
we'd hoped that we might be able to
reach some consensus with the advocates
on a national basis and in fact
consumer technology association
initiated a dialogue with the repair
advocates this fall to find some
consensus
to the uh that would be outside of the
legislative process we were
unfortunately unable to get there but
when ifixit ceo kyle wiens took the mic
he responded to brown a surprise in the
last 12 months we had 1.3 million
washingtonians use ifixit to learn how
to repair everything from
their uh their kitchen appliances to
their smartphones
we are
enthusiastic about this legislation and
i commend uh everyone on the committee
for their hard work on this over the
last year in recess allowing everyone to
have access to this is just absolutely
critical if you saw some of the
language in these authorized
manufacturer contracts you'd realize
where there's why there's been so much
pressure on making sure that there's
open available certifications uh one
thing that i'm really proud of i fix it
recently launched a partnership with
microsoft where microsoft is starting to
make repair tools available to
independent technicians and a key part
of that agreement was that microsoft
didn't get a dictate who had access to
those tools they said we want you to
provide them to professionals um and and
we'll allow an independent party to
decide who's a professional i think
that's that's the right approach where
you can separate a contractual
obligation where apple is notorious for
the contracts that they require
manufacture that they require
technicians sign where they have to make
their customer list and privacy
information available
to the manufacturer to verify the
contract that's i don't think that
that's a reasonable requirement for for
a local repair shop washingtonians
across the political spectrum agreed
according to new polling shared by
entropy nueve executive director of the
northwest progressive institute a total
of 69 percent of respondents that they
supported the bill when support is this
high in the high 60s 70s or above it's
evidence that the idea that we're
researching enjoys robust and broad
support across many different groups of
voters
we do live in polarized times where
right to repair is something that most
washingtonians can enthusiastically get
behind so we urge you to give house bill
1810 a do pass recommendation and move
it forward if you're in washington state
and you want to help out now is the time
calling or writing your legislators is a
great way to make your voice heard at
washington.repair.org there's a forum
for you to email your repair story to
your legislators and a calling system
that will connect you directly in the
u.s every state with repair legislation
under consideration has its own
repair.org domain
illinois.repair.org
california.repair.org
nebraska.repair.org
if you're in the european union check
out repair.eu and in australia the
griffith university law future center
hosts repair australia
in canada we love cannerpair.ca thanks
for your help fighting for right to
repair and happy fixing everybody