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"Right to Repair" movement gains momentum and adversaries

Feb. 17, 2017

A new movement called "Right to Repair" is making its way through state legislatures across the country, and it seeks to give more knowledge and tools to the everyday consumer.

DIYers, like myself, don't back down from a challenge. We view obstacles as opportunities to learn new skills and persevere. True, we don't know how to fix everything, but we have the tenacity to seek out the information we need to get it done. A new movement called "Right to Repair" is making its way through state legislatures across the country, and it seeks to give more knowledge and tools to the everyday consumer. This law would force manufacturers to sell repair parts and make service manuals available to the public. Many manufacturers, including Apple, are fighting to oppose the legislation.

According to David Grossman for Popular Mechanics: "Backed by the lobbying group Repair.org, Right to Repair legislation is currently working its way through eight state-level legislatures across the country: Nebraska, Minnesota, New York, Massachusetts, Kansas, Wyoming, Illinois and Tennessee. Apple appears to be focusing its efforts on the Nebraska efforts at first, perhaps because Nebraska's unique unicameral legislature (the state has no House or Senate, just one body known as "the Legislature") makes it easier to consolidate lobbying efforts.

According to Motherboard's source, an Apple representative will testify against the bill, LB 67, at a hearing in Lincoln on March 9, alongside AT&T. Collectively, the two companies will argue against the legislation as a matter of safety, saying that consumers who repair their own phones could cause lithium batteries to catch fire. It's a danger that's been in the news regularly, most recently when a fire broke out in a Samsung factory in China."

To learn more, read "'Right to Repair' Is About a Whole Lot More Than iPhones" from Popular Mechanics.

About the Author

Alexis Gajewski | Senior Content Strategist

Alexis Gajewski has over 15 years of experience in the maintenance, reliability, operations, and manufacturing space. She joined Plant Services in 2008 and works to bring readers the news, insight, and information they need to make the right decisions for their plants. Alexis also authors “The Lighter Side of Manufacturing,” a blog that highlights the fun and innovative advances in the industrial sector. 

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