iFixit On Right To Repair's Remaining Obstacles, Hope

iFixit CEO Kyle Wiens sat down with Ars Technica to discuss the fight for the right to repair. Here's an excerpt from their report: Tech repairs got complicated in 1998 when Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act [PDF]. Section 1201 of the copyright law essentially made it illegal to distribute tools for, or to break encryption on, manufactured products. Created with DVD piracy in mind, it made fixing things like computers and tractors significantly harder, if not illegal, without manufacturer permission. It also represented "a total sea change from what historic property rights have been," Wiens said. This makes Washington, DC, the primary battleground for the fight for the right to repair. "Because this law was passed at the federal level, the states can't preempt. Congress at the federal level reset copyright policy. This fix has to happen at the US federal level," Wiens told Ars Technica during the Road to Frontiers talk.

The good news is that every three years, the US Copyright Office holds hearings to discuss potential exemptions. Right to repair advocates are hoping Congress will schedule this year's hearing soon. Wiens also highlighted the passing of the Freedom to Repair Act [PDF] introduced earlier this year as critical for addressing Section 1201 and creating a permanent exemption for repairing tech products.

Apple's self-service repair program launched last month marked a huge step forward for the right to repair initiated by a company that has shown long-standing resistance. Wiens applauded the program, which provides repair manuals for the iPhone 12, 13, and newest SE and will eventually extend to computers. He emphasized how hard it is for iFixit to reverse-engineer such products to determine important repair details, like whether a specific screw is 1 or 1.1 mm. [...]

Wiens envisioned a world where gadgets not only last longer but where you may also build relationships with local businesses to keep your products functioning. He lamented the loss of businesses like local camera and TV repair shops extinguished by vendors no longer supplying parts and tools. [...] He also discussed the idea of giving gadgets second and even third lives: An aged smartphone could become a baby monitor or a smart thermostat. "I think we should be talking about lifespans of smartphones in terms of 20, 25 years," Wiens said. The livestream of the discussion can be viewed here.

The only obstacle to right to repair

[saloomy]

Is lack of broad consumer pushback against closed and irreparable systems and products. Once people vote with their wallet to stop buying things they can not fix, manufacturers will stop making them. I promise you.

Re:The only obstacle to right to repair

[phantomfive]

To be more specific, the market isn't liquid. If you offered a consumer a choice of phones:

A) A phone that can't be repaired.
B) A phone exactly like A that can be repaired.

They would choose phone B 99% of the time. Unfortunately, they don't have that choice. They choose on a number of other features, because repair-ability is less important than a good camera. That doesn't mean repairability is unimportant, however.

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[JanSand]

Essentially, the denial of the right to repair permits the world to be filled with millions of tons of very complex junk which can be dumped on less developed nations and prompts world industry to manufacture all sorts of goods that are designed to have a short life to encourage industry to keep making profits from selling new stuff. This is tolerable in a world with a rather limited population but the current civilization of many billions is rapidly destroying the ecological complexities of a life sustaini

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

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[JanSand]

It's all a matter of design. If devices were designed to replace different sectors for simple slide in repair or even inexpensive upgrade a good deal of devices would avoid expensive and total replacement. If inferior replacements are on the market, that can easily be remedied-

Re: The only obstacle to right to repair

[guruevi]

So people make decisions you donâ(TM)t agree with or like so instead you think YOU should be able to set a rule that forces people to do what YOU think they should do. Quite a little dictator you are.

If there was market demand for a repairable phone, they would exist. Itâ(TM)s been tried many times now, at least a dozen companies have been featured here and most of them failed to get any traction.

I donâ(TM)t care about a repairable phone. I get an iPhone with AppleCare, so repairs are free un

Re:The only obstacle to right to repair

[Powercntrl]

Most people aren't thinking far enough ahead that their new shiny is going to break. My partner was given one of those Macbook Pros with the OLED touch bar a few years ago from his family as a gift. It is a complete piece of shit. Nothing in it is upgradable; the SSD and the RAM are both soldered down. Recently, we discovered that the LiPo battery has become a spicy pillow [reddit.com] and is bulging out the bottom aluminum panel.

The repair process for this particular model is a massive pain, with, I kid you not, 74 steps [ifixit.com]. For comparison, the laptop I use is a Lenovo ThinkPad. To replace the battery, you flip the thing over, press the battery release slider, and pull off the battery pack.

We're just gonna buy another ThinkPad.

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[serviscope_minor]

Not all ThinkPads have a catch, some you have to remove screws to get to the innards.

But fuck me sideways, they used captive screws on the case back so you can't lose them or mix up the almost identical screws some machines have. That was a glorious, delightful attention to detail.

Soldered RAM, but LPDDR doesn't have a socketed variant. Everything else, the disk, work even Bluetooth for some reason is socketed. Was as thin and lighter (and faster lol) as the contemporary Macs and has actual ports you know?

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[Powercntrl]

Yeah, any right-to-repair law needs to include some sort of requirements that products be designed with serviceability in mind. With most most modern gadgets, step #1 always seems to be "heat up the glue, than pry at X until it comes apart or shatters into a million pieces." Oops.

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[queazocotal]

To a large degree, no.

Being able to take your device to a competant repair shop, and have them able to purchase parts not on the grey/black market/from scrap devices from the manufacturer, and repair your device is a significant and important step alone. Even if the repairs are technically difficult for the home user.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agG108sxkyo related - goes into the problems and limitations of apples self service repair program.

Many common faults are not fixable by this, and they do not en

Just wish aftermarket part quality wasn't garbage

[Powercntrl]

Anytime I've ever ordered batteries or screens from Amazon, they've always been significantly inferior to OEM. Heck, even with vehicle repairs I've had problems with poor quality aftermarket parts, especially ignition coils. There's an old joke about "Why does Advance Auto Parts have trash cans in front of their stores? So you don't have to waste any time installing it before you throw it out!"

Right to repair is great, now if we could get right to decent quality, affordable parts, we'd be all set.

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[phantomfive]

I usually get parts from iFixit. I haven't had a problem with quality. (Amazon is known to have quality control problems, especially with batteries).

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[queazocotal]

'Decent affordable parts' - this is part of the reason it's needing to be a law.

If the companies were required to sell, at a reasonable price (compared to their purchase price and the cost of the device) parts for their devices to enable repair shops and skilled individuals, all parts required to repair devices, aftermarket part quality would matter a lot less, as there would be a choice.

Re: Just wish aftermarket part quality wasn't garb

[guruevi]

Apple does and for quite some time has had an independent repair program. But people still complain it is too expensive and quack repair shops complain it is too complicated to properly repair the phone to spec.

The problem is not the lack of repair parts, the problem is lack of qualified technicians and the rather high cost of electronics engineers. Youâ(TM)re not going to do a board repair under $150/h, 4h minimum anywhere in the US. At that point it is just cheaper to buy a brand new phone.

So most

If I can't repair my phone...

[c-A-d]

then maybe instead of purchasing a flagship model, or even a mid-level model, I'll just purchase the cheapest phone I can get and toss it when it breaks.

I'm not spending $1000+ on something that, if it breaks, is little more than a paperweight once the warranty period expires. Maybe if the demand drops off they'll get the message that people aren't going to put up with this shite.

But then I remember I'm putting too much faith in the general public to actually care about these issues. Nothing will happen and

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[Powercntrl]

The problem with phones is that the software updates usually do it in before the hardware has a chance to crap out. I know there's always some folks on here who like to brag how they ride their phones until the wheels fall off, but the average person doesn't want to wait 30 seconds for the latest version TikTok to load. Hell, I play Pokemon Go sometimes as a way to kill time, and that game was painfully slow on my previous phone. Don't even get me started on mobile website bloat.

I know some people are pa

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[wierd_w]

Competently repairing a screen would be a much lower bar to clear, if the screens were not held in with layers of extremely thin, difficult to remove, and very cranky layers of doublestick adhesive that requires very careful application of controlled hot air to soften, that is the same temperature as the glass transition temperature of the plastic of the phone body.

BUT, getting manufacturers to stop doing that kind of shit, would force a stop to the race to get phones thin enough to load into a straight raz

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[Reiyuki]

Are there phone really pushing $1k now?

Apple is gas lighting the repair industry.

[thegarbz]

Reading on reviews of the Apple repair methods for the iPhone, it's difficult, clunky, takes hours, requires carting equipment weighing 40lbs to and from the post office, and is price to be more expensive than going to an apple genius.

Every review says it's inferior to ifixit or other kits, which are easier to use and less clunky, to say nothing of cheaper and you don't need to return the tools.

This program is designed to fail. Fuck Apple for gaslighting the industry.