SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
It's probably easier just to buy a new one. Maybe - almost likely - you have said that sentence while staring at a broken phone or a malfunctioning appliance. If you have, you are not alone. The Right to Repair movement is on a consumer crusade of sorts to give purchasers the ability to fix their technology if it breaks. And last year was one of the most interesting years for this cause. Boone Ashworth wrote about this for WIRED magazine and joins us now. Welcome to the show.
BOONE ASHWORTH: Hey, Scott. Thanks for having me.
DETROW: Let's just start with the definition. How would you define the Right to Repair movement? Who is it? What is it? What exactly are they pushing for?
ASHWORTH: Sure. The idea is pretty simple. It's the fundamental belief that if you own something, you should be able to fix it when it breaks. The people who support it are basically anybody who have any kind of device. It can be anything from, you know, trying to change your iPhone battery to repairing a wheelchair or fixing the engine on your John Deere tractor.
DETROW: And, like, repair shops just don't exist the way that they used to. And I feel like we're talking about two different things here 'cause, like, people might be thinking the convenience of fixing something, or just the ability to, or the fact that buying a replacement is often cheaper and faster. But there's also - right? - the basic right to do this, right? Like, you're just not allowed to make a repair and still have the certain rights that you had when you purchased the item to begin with?
ASHWORTH: Right, yeah. Or you violate the warranty or...
DETROW: Yeah.
ASHWORTH: ...Something like that.
DETROW: Tell me more about that. Like, if I owned a phone or some other device, like, why would I not have the right to just kind of find somebody online and get it fixed as opposed to sending it back to the original company?
ASHWORTH: Sure. So one of the main problems is that a lot of devices that you have now have software restrictions put in them. And that's because of Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which was passed in 1998 and prohibits users from bypassing passwords or other security encryption measures. And so, you know, everything that you have now - you probably have a refrigerator with Wi-Fi or a toaster with Wi-Fi in it.
DETROW: I try hard not to, but yes.
ASHWORTH: (Laughter) Well, because you have those software capabilities inside your hardware products, it's borderline illegal to bypass them. And so then companies can put in restrictions - software restrictions - that keep you from fixing things or keeping you from using third-party replacement parts. There will be NFC chips or barcodes that make it so you have to use manufacturer-approved products or replacement parts and not use potentially cheaper third-party things.
DETROW: So what has happened over the past year when it comes to pushback to these restrictions?
ASHWORTH: Yeah, it's been a pretty active year for repair. There's several states in the U.S. that have passed Right to Repair laws. I believe the U.S. PIRG - the Public Interest Research Group - says that a quarter of people in the U.S. will now live in states that have Right to Repair. So there's been a lot of state legislation that's been passed. The problem is there hasn't been really broad federal support in the way that countries like Canada or that the European Union - which has led a lot of these Right to Repair issues - have.
DETROW: What do you think comes over the next few years? Because on one hand, you have this spate of laws that have passed. On the other hand, more and more stuff is going to be built around software, with software embedded in it.
ASHWORTH: Sure. Yeah. I think it's going to be kind of an interesting push for the next few years to see how this goes. If everything's computer now, then the people who control how the computer runs in your device control how it works. I think people are feeling economic uncertainty, and I think there's a real desire to be able to not have to buy a new thing every year and just be able to fix what you have for cheaper. And so I think that's probably going to be how it pans out.
DETROW: Yeah. That is Boone Ashworth, a writer for WIRED. Thank you so much.
ASHWORTH: Thank you. Thanks for having me.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR鈥檚 programming is the audio record.
