SUBRAMANIAN: New Jersey must pass right-to-repair legislation
Column: Whadda I Know
The 2023 general elections concluded last week, with much of the coverage focused on abortion access being a key issue. But one smaller victory happened that has gotten less coverage.
The State of Maine was able to get a right-to-repair referendum. This makes Maine one of the few states in the union with some level of right-to-repair, and New Jersey needs to follow suit.
What is right-to-repair? It is self-explanatory. If you own something, you should be able to repair it yourself or take it to someone of your choice who will repair it for you.
This concept seems obvious. After all, if I own the product, I should be able to repair it. But the right-to-repair goes further than that. To truly have the right-to-repair there needs to be open access to information about manuals, schematics and software updates. People also need to be able to access the tools and parts required to fix the products.
The U.S. could save a lot of waste by having the right-to-repair. Fifty-four million metric tons of e-waste, including items like phones and computers, were produced in 2022, according to the United Nations Environment Programme. This amount of e-waste is expected to grow, given the rise in demand for new technologies.
This e-waste is not a joke. Many unused electronic devices are dumped in developing nations and sifted through informally by workers who often are children. This exposes them to harmful chemicals found in these electronic devices, such as mercury, cadmium and lead.
This e-waste problem stems from many causes. One major contribution occurs when people's devices are not working due to a small error, and rather than fixing the device, they opt to buy a new one.
If we had the right to repair, people would be given access to manuals, tools, parts and repairable devices, enabling them to fix technology easily. Even if people could not repair the devices themselves, the access to information would allow repair stores to offer these services. If this is the case, stores are likely to be a cheaper alternative than outright replacing a device because they are smaller businesses. Therefore, they are more reliant on local demand, which would be reflected in their prices.
This problem worsens because oftentimes, the issues with these devices are not the consumers' fault. Many recent tech issues, such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 flammable batteries or the MacBook Pro butterfly keyboard breaks, have been a result of tech companies pushing out shoddy products. Rather than fixing it yourself or having a local repair shop fix it, companies at fault, like Samsung and Apple, expect you to take your broken devices to them to fix, often charging you out-of-warranty costs and creating long wait times.
The right-to-repair is not just a solution for electronic devices but also greatly impacts many other industries. One of these industries is the agricultural sector. This sector is significant in New Jersey, given that it generates $1.5 billion in revenue and is the third-largest industry in the state.
Many farmers are not able to fix important equipment like tractors because it is far more technological and usually requires special components to do so. This often forces farmers to go to company-owned repair shops where they must deal with long wait times and equipment transports to get their equipment repaired.
Many farmers are losing out on their livelihoods since they cannot harvest crops as efficiently with faulty equipment. When many farmers experience the same issues, it can lead to less food and, in turn, higher food costs. Since farmers are going to be making less money, it is harder for them to provide for their families and keep their farms going, often pushing farmers to commit suicide.
After reading all this, some of you might wonder why we do not have right-to-repair legislation in place. The answer is a concentrated effort from corporations to maintain their control over the consumer.
For example, in Nebraska, farmers pushed legislators to pass a right-to-repair law. John Deere and Apple worked hard to kill that piece of legislation. They did this by stating that farmers did not own their tractors but were rather spending money to “license” the tractors and by blocking the attempts of users from trying to understand the software. As a result, the legislation never passed, and farmers in Nebraska are still without right-to-repair.
If you are going to try to repair your own devices, good luck. When describing his experience fixing an iBook, Kyle Wiens, CEO and co-founder of iFixit, explained "Afterwards, I was asking myself, why was this so difficult? I did a little more research, and I learned that the service manual had been online, but Apple had sent DMCA takedowns to every single website that hosted the manual."
DMCA refers to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which was passed to regulate new technologies. It has been used as a bludgeon against small repair shops and websites that tried to provide information about repairs.
Some might wonder if anything will be done to fix this issue. We are in luck. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp-Perez (D-WA) has introduced legislation to provide right-to-repair for all agricultural products in Congress. Similarly, Rep. Neal P. Dunn (R-FL) has introduced legislation providing right-to-repair for automobiles.
The fact that members of different political parties agree on this issue proves that the right-to-repair is not just a liberal or conservative talking point. It is an American talking point, and it is time for Americans to have full control of their devices.
But hey, whadda I know?
Kiran Subramanian is a senior in the School of Arts and Sciences majoring in economics and political science. His column, "Whadda I Know," runs on alternate Wednesdays.
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