A $50 Billion Question: Will Trump 2.0 Help Or Hurt The Right To Repair?
Will Trump 2.0 help or hinder the right to repair movement? Read our take. Also: Netflix's Buy Now! documentary highlights the fight for a right to repair.
The past four years in the U.S. has seen a blossoming of laws, regulations and policy positions that promote the right to repair. Now, as the transition to a new presidential administration begins to take shape, a question looms about whether Donald Trump's second term will help or hinder the ascendent right to repair movement.
Contents:
Netflix's "Buy Now" calls out our culture of waste
Rivian: journey to make cars repairable took 3 years
Wanted: a right to repair your work clothing
Documentary: how John Deere robs farmers of $4 billion a year
iFixit teardown finds repair issues linger on Macbook Pro 4
Maine working group readies auto repair recommendations
The case for enterprise right to repair
This indie smart watch does everything right
Indian government readies plan to repair personal electronics
>> Got a repair complaint? Tell us about it! <<
Trump’s stand on right to repair? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
There’s no question that the presidential campaigns of Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris stood far apart on many issues - from women’s reproductive rights to foreign policy and domestic economic policy. One area where there was less (visible) daylight was regarding a right to repair.
Of the two, Harris and the Democratic party were more forthright in promoting the concept of a right to repair. Seeking traction in rural counties, Harris’s campaign promised to enact a right to repair agricultural equipment as part of a broader package of policies designed to promote U.S. farmers.
For his part, candidate Trump and his campaign made no mention of the right to repair or issues surrounding it, like anti-competitive restrictions by manufacturers on repair. (Note: It was a long campaign and I could be overlooking something - feel free to correct me if I’m wrong here!)
The closest he came was a social media post promising that, under a second Trump administration, McDonald’s “Ice Cream machines will work great again!” That was an apparent reference to the Copyright Office’s recent grant of a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Section 1201 exemption to owners of commercial kitchen equipment, including Taylor’s McFlurry Soft Ice Cream machines, a focus of much debate about repair restrictions the high costs imposed on businesses and consumers by ‘planned obsolescence.’”
But - as is often the case with Trump - that statement was a promise, not a policy. In its wake, numerous pundits pointed out that it was the Biden Administration under the leadership of FTC Chair Lina Khan that deserved credit for advancing the right to repair and taking aim at anti-competitive practices more broadly.
Reason for repair optimism…and pessimism
The truth is a bit more complicated. Yes, Biden’s ascendence to the presidency coincided with an increased focus on anti competitive practices. That included the release, shortly after Biden took office, of the FTC’s oft-cited “Nixing the Fix” report (PDF), which took aim at discredited and fact-neutral manufacturer’ arguments against right to repair laws, coming down strongly in favor of a legal right to repair. However, it was the Trump Administration’s FTC that first proposed and held the 2019 Nixing the Fix Symposium on which the report was based.
Besides, despite some encouraging moves by the FTC and DOJ in recent years to support the cause of right to repair, there has been little progress in Congress in the last four years on a long list of proposed right to repair laws - from agricultural equipment to cars (the REPAIR Act) to military hardware and personal electronics. What progress has been made has been at the state level.
Still, as Wired wrote in a recent story, right to repair advocates remain optimistic that the momentum seen in recent years will continue, regardless of who occupies the Oval Office.
“Right to repair has been firmly bipartisan from the beginning,” Kyle Wiens, the CEO of iFixit told Wired reporter Boone Ashworth. “I'm really not ‘doom and gloom’ on any of this. We feel very strong going into this. We have a really great working relationship with a lot of conservatives on the Hill, and we're looking forward to continuing that.”
Indeed, there’s good reason to think that the right to repair has strong, bi-partisan support. Ballot measures in Maine and Massachusetts in recent years seeking a right to repair for automobiles passed with the support of 84% and 74% of voters, respectively - numbers that are almost unheard of. And state level electronics right to repair laws in New York, Minnesota, California, Colorado and Oregon passed with bi-partisan support.
Then there are political contests like Independent Dan Osborne’s near defeat of Republican Senator Deb Fisher, in which Osborne - an industrial mechanic - highlighted his support for a right to repair in his appeal to farmers and working class voters. Or Washington State representative Marie Glusenkamp-Perez’s defeat of GOP star Joe Kent. Glusenkamp-Perez, a Democrat who held onto a strongly pro-Trump district in an otherwise disastrous election for her party, is co-owner of an auto repair shop with her husband, is one of the most explicitly pro- repair members of Congress and recently listed repairability as a core value that she and others from rural communities hold dear. “We believe in making and fixing things. We feel pride in knowing how to make things and making things that last,” Glusenkamp-Perez told the New York Times.
But, as Karl Bode points out in an opinion piece over at TechDirt “just because something has bipartisan appeal doesn’t mean it has a chance in hell of surviving Trumpism.”
Bode argues that Trump’s populism is mostly for show - a “highly performative ideology that coddles corporate power at every conceivable opportunity.” The new president’s appointments to head key federal agencies like the FTC will say more than any Facebook post about where the administration is heading when it comes to right to repair. But Mr. Trump’s long and enthusiastic embrace of unchecked corporate power “doesn’t gel particularly well with cracking down on corporate power’s efforts to monopolize repair,” Bode writes.
Want a right to repair? Get thee to a statehouse!
That’s actually not that big a change. Federal right to repair legislation has been an uphill battle for a long time. (Speaking as someone who has actually testified before Congress on the need for a right to repair.) Senator Elizabeth Warren’s addition of a military right to repair to the pending National Defense Authorization Act may be an exception - and has the best chance of pro-repair legislation making its way through Congress. Right to repair advocates see far more fertile ground in local and state-level efforts.
“I'm probably not going to put too many eggs in the federal basket,” Nathan Proctor, the Director of the national Right to Repair campaign at US PIRG told Wired. “There are a lot of other great state and local lawmakers, other folks that really care about the right to repair. And there's a lot of opportunity to keep going. I'm not counting anything out.”
Ensh**tification: a driver for right to repair
State- and local support aside, another factor that is likely to drive continued momentum for a legal right to repair is the continued misery and deterioration of consumers’ experience - what Cory Doctorow has termed “enshittification.” As families and businesses increasingly contend with the shocking reality of eye-popping repair costs, perfectly functioning devices suddenly getting bricked, or push back from manufacturers as they seek simple repairs, calls for stronger consumer rights when it comes to repair will grow.
That’s because, while the specifics of corporate monopolies and DMCA-backed abuses are beyond the ken of most consumers, the evidence of an increasingly “McBroken” economy are getting easier and easier to see - and speak out against. In states where electronics and other right to repair laws have been passed, these continued abuses are likely to lead to lawsuits seeking justice for consumers, further highlighting the problem.
The stakes here are huge. A 2023 study by US PIRG, the Public Interest Research Group (PDF), estimated that savings to consumers from a comprehensive, federal right to repair law could approach $50 billion annually in extended device lifespans, and lower costs for repair and maintenance. That’s why this writer shares optimism that - other things aside - the push back against corporate abuses and the push for a right to repair will continue under a good head of steam in the years ahead.
😠 Got a repair complaint? Tell us about it!
Do you have a complaint about a manufacturer who is blocking your effort to repair your product? The Repair Coalition wants to hear about it! Use the link below to talk about the repair obstacles you’ve encountered.
Other News
Netflix’s Buy Now! documentary calls out culture of waste
While the tide has started to turn in the battle for the right to repair our stuff, there’s a much bigger problem brewing (boiling over?): a global culture of unhinged consumption in which products of all sorts are overproduced, briefly used, and discarded, often by design. That “culture of waste” is the subject of a new documentary on Netflix: Buy Now: The Shopping Conspiracy. The new film takes on the global overproduction problem - digging into the waste generated by “fast fashion” (just 20% of textiles are recycled while 92M tons of clothing end up in landfills annually). It also highlights the fight for a right to repair, calling out manufacturers limits on tools, parts, and information and how it drives the e-waste epidemic and high repair costs. (Read more on Netflix.com)
Rivian: journey to make their cars repairable took three years
At the 2024 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Rivian detailed its three-year journey to develop repair procedures for its electric vehicles (EVs). Kelly Logan, Rivian's Service and Collision Repair Programs Director, highlighted the necessity of creating localized repair methods for the EV's full-frame structure to enhance safety and reduce ownership costs. Dan Black, Senior Manager of Service Engineering – Collision, explained that the team identified areas prone to damage even in low-speed impacts, which previously required complete skateboard replacements involving 72 fasteners—a time-intensive process. To address this, Rivian explored six repair process iterations, starting with rivet-bonded applications using structural adhesives. However, these initial methods led to unintended stress points. Subsequent iterations incorporated welding, despite Rivian's general restriction on welding ultra-high-strength steels due to potential material alterations. After rigorous testing and validation, the team established effective repair procedures that ensure safety, quality, and ease of execution using familiar tools and materials. (Read more at Repairer Driven News)
Wanted: a right to repair your work clothing
Right to repair conversations tend to focus on electronics, heavy equipment, home appliances and the like. But waste and pollution related to clothing is an urgent problem as well. And that includes “workwear” and protective clothing worn by laborers across industries. A recent article on Organisator.ch emphasizes the environmental benefits of repairing workwear over recycling. While recycling is beneficial, it often involves processes that consume significant energy and may not fully recover all materials. In contrast, repairing garments maintains their original form and function with a lower environmental footprint. The piece advocates for businesses to adopt repair strategies for workwear, promoting a circular economy and contributing to overall sustainability goals. (Read more at Organisator.)
Documentary: How Deere robs farmers of $4 billion a year
A short, YouTube documentary from the non-profit group More Perfect Union is lighting up social media this week. The 20 minute video, narrated by More Perfect Union’s Sonya Dosani, profiles Walter Schweitzer of the Montana Farmers Union, who talks about the barriers that farm equipment makers like John Deere erect to keep farmers like him from servicing and repairing his own equipment, as well as the larger scope of repair challenges and how corporations are using maximalist copyright and IP laws to dismantle things like the 170 year-old “First Sale Doctrine,” a cornerstone of U.S. Copyright law and our notion of the right to ownership (and repair). Check out the video below or read More Perfect Union’s (Substack) blog post!
iFixit teardown finds repairability issues linger on Macbook Pro 4
iFixit's teardown of the MacBook Pro M4 Pro reveals minimal design changes from its predecessor, the M3 model. The device retains Pentalobe screws and stretch-release adhesive for the battery, with a slightly redesigned logic board featuring a larger heatsink and rearranged components. While most ports are individually replaceable, components like the MagSafe connector and card reader still require advanced soldering skills for replacement. Overall, iFixit’s teardown found that - despite some pro-repairability features - significant challenges persist due to parts pairing and calibration issues, particularly with displays and logic boards, which involve complex software locks. Despite some repair-friendly aspects, these obstacles continue to hinder straightforward repairs. (Read more at iFixit.com)
Maine Working Group readies auto repair recommendations
The Maine Right to Repair (R2R) Working Group is finalizing draft recommendations for implementing the state's new automotive right to repair law, aimed at granting independent repair shops and consumers access to vehicle repair data. Central to the discussions is the establishment of an independent entity to oversee data access and compliance. The group has decided that this entity will not act as a gatekeeper or implement credentialing but will provide non-binding recommendations to manufacturers and refer enforcement issues to the Attorney General’s Office.
Key challenges remain, including defining the entity’s role in cybersecurity and consumer privacy, critical aspects of its operations. The entity is envisioned as a freestanding board or commission with limited funding and no permanent staff. Discussions also focus on its composition and ensuring consumer control over repair data. These recommendations aim to balance repair data access with robust security and privacy safeguards, meeting the law’s intent. (Read more at Repairer Driven News and Ratchet and Wrench)
The case for an enterprise right to repair
For businesses looking to stay agile and competitive, flexible access to technology, rather than ownership, may be the way forward—and the circular economy can provide a solution, writes Michael Cassau over at Forbes Tech Council.
Adopting circular economy practices, including repair, can allow businesses to access the latest IT infrastructure more sustainably and cost-effectively, Cassau said, noting that the Circular model focuses on reuse, refurbishment and repair, keeping hardware in circulation longer. (Read more at Forbes)
This indie smart watch does everything right
iFixit highlights a new smart watch from the firm Pocuter: the Spectra that it says is both hackable and repairable. The Spectra's design emphasizes user-friendly maintenance, comprising only twelve parts secured by seven Phillips screws, eliminating the need for adhesives. Users can easily replace components like the standard 22 mm watch band, display, and battery. Notably, the mainboard includes a microSD slot, supporting up to 512 GB of expandable storage. Pocuter plans to offer replacement parts and provide comprehensive support through video tutorials and technical documentation. This approach aligns with their goal of fostering a community of tinkerers and makers, encouraging customization and longevity in wearable technology. (Read more at iFixit.com)
Indian government readies repairability plan for personal electronics
The Indian government is set to introduce a 'repairability index' for mobile phones and electronic products by December 2024. The initiative aims to help consumers make informed purchasing decisions by providing a score that reflects how easily a product can be repaired. The index will evaluate factors such as the availability of technical documents, ease of disassembly, and the accessibility and pricing of spare parts. This move is part of a broader strategy to address the growing issue of electronic waste and to encourage manufacturers to design products that are more repair-friendly. The government has already launched a Right to Repair Portal, with 63 companies participating, including 23 from the mobile and electronics sector. This portal provides consumers with information and resources to repair their devices, supporting the transition towards a more sustainable and circular economy. (Read more at The Times of India)