It was George Orwell’s novel 1984, of all things, that first raised awareness of the problem a few years ago. Amazon had deleted the story about a surveillance dystopia from its Kindle electronic reader overnight – due to problems with licensing rights. At the time, Amazon was less interested in the ownership rights of those who had purchased a digital version of the novel. A lesson in power and property in the digital age.
This lesson continued – from the digital goods to the physical ones, the hardware that you need to have access to digital communication at all. A prime example is Apple. Anyone who has ever tried to fix an Apple device without Nerd Support knows what’s going on. Repair seems to be the mantra of many hardware manufacturers.
Today, the following applies: After the shortest possible time, the devices lose their optimal performance and are replaced by a new model. The fact that such a show is usually always available at exactly the right time and is presented to the public with great fanfare only seems pure coincidence to the completely naïve.
Two US students stank tremendously. They no longer wanted to put up with the paternalism and fiddled around with Apple computers and iPhones until they found a solution to repair the devices themselves, to replace prematurely exhausted batteries or even a broken camera.
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The two became leaders of a growing community of DIY (do it yourself) enthusiasts. First they put pages of repair instructions online, then it became “iFixit”. A comprehensive online manual with attached shop for special tools.
US students create Right to Repair movement
That alone is a good example of how a demand creates a supply. Much more exciting, however, is what you can learn from browsing through the comprehensive archive. For example, that Apple uses special screws to prevent self-repairs. Or that on the iPhone 13, you couldn’t remove the screen without disabling the facial recognition technology used to unlock the device.
>> Read also: EU Commission wants sustainability rules for all products on the market
The greatest merit of the two boys lies in the fact that they launched a movement that is now having an extensive impact: the “Right to Repair” movement. Everyone should be able to repair expensive devices themselves if necessary and desired.
This is a good approach if only for reasons of sustainability. It also allows those who can’t easily spend around a thousand euros on a new smartphone every two years to replace individual parts with much less financial effort and to use the device longer.
Joe Biden and the EU Commission are committed to self-repair
But there’s an overarching message in this movement that’s an important reminder of what’s changing as everything and everyone goes digital: By buying an iPhone, we expect to acquire ownership of the device.
>> Read also: Apple will deliver spare parts to everyone in the future
But that’s not really the case if I can’t do what I want with the device, if the service life and performance depend solely on the manufacturer’s grace. The Right to Repair movement is restoring ownership: you only own what you can fix.
In the US, this right to physical ownership of the devices has become part of the broader effort to roll back Big Tech’s power. In the fall of 2020, the Federal Trade Commission took on the issue. A year later, US President Joe Biden regulated the possibility of self-repair via an executive order. The EU Commission also wants to come up with a corresponding regulatory proposal this quarter, which should be part of a larger movement towards the circular economy.
The power of the tech companies is being pushed back somewhat
And the tech companies? They go gallantly with the zeitgeist and become more conciliatory. Since this year, Apple has allowed customers to replace individual parts in the company’s devices themselves. Only through original Apple parts, of course, which must be purchased from the company. Microsoft made a similar decision.
So there it is, the power of factual protest. This leads us back to a comprehensive interpretation of ownership of technical devices, to more sustainability in use, and at the same time pushes back the monopoly power of the tech companies a little.
There is something enchanting about it that is diametrically opposed to Orwell’s dystopia. “Everyone is his neighbor’s property,” it says there, representative of the comprehensive deconstruction of individualism. The Right to Repair movement is turning the tables. Because two single people got in the way, the world has changed a bit.
In this column, Miriam Meckel writes fortnightly about ideas, innovations and interpretations that make progress and a better life possible. Because what the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the rest of the world calls a butterfly. ada-magazin.com
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