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Lawmaker Susan Talamantes Eggman has introduced the Right to Repair Act in the state of California, the home to the biggest tech companies. Device repair has become a hot issue because these days, you either bring your broken phone, tablet or computer to the respective manufacturers’ or retailers’ repair facilities and then wait a long while for them to be fixed. You can also take them to be fixed att an unauthorized kiosk that will fix you’re device more quickly, but don’t have (legal) access to the official device parts.
California now has become the 18th state in the country to look into making devices easier to repair. The Act will require tech titans to release helpful repair guides and make official repair parts available to all consumers and third-party repair professionals. In addition, companies would be required to put diagnostic information and tools needed into your hands or hands of independent repair shops. Doing this would be quite beneficial, including the reduction of e-waste.
By giving people more repair options to choose from, they will be less inclined to throw out a broken device and buy a newer model instead of salvaging the old one. Of course, companies don’t want you to do that because they prefer you buy their latest and hottest products to again get more money out of you. By being able to repair your own device, it would encourage people to be more adventurous when it comes to fixing their device, and could possibly lead to rise of new innovators and inventors.
In a statement, Kit Walsh, Senior Staff Attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said:
“The bill is critical to protect independent repair shops and a competitive market for repair, which means better service and lower prices. It also helps preserve the right of individual device owners to understand and fix their own property. We should encourage people to take things apart and learn from them. After all, that’s how many of today’s most successful innovators got started.”
Previously, when Nebraska introduced the Right to Repair bill, Apple told lawmakers that it would turn the state into a “mecca of hackers.” Tech companies definitely aren’t a fan of this bill, especially since it’s been introduced in their home state.
