The Fight to Fix Your iPhone (and Other Stuff)

A few decades ago, you could take your newest piece of technology, be it a TV or tractor, to the repair shop of your choice, or try to fix it yourself. That’s usually no longer the case, as hardware increasingly comes loaded with copyrighted software. To varying degrees, many of the world’s biggest electronics manufacturers limit access to the information and equipment necessary for do-it-yourself maintenance and repairs.

The Digital Right to Repair Coalition, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and other advocates support bills introduced in Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New York that would require manufacturers to sell parts and provide manuals to hardware owners and independent repair shops. Separate efforts in Congress would amend the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act by giving explicit permission for consumers to circumvent a manufacturer’s digital lock on its software for a lawful reason such as repair. “The problem isn’t current law, but lack of law,” says the Digital Right to Repair Coalition’s Gordon-Byrne. Until consumer rights are clearly legislated, “Manufacturers have carte blanche to limit anything they wish.”