Large companies limit the right of people to repair, forcing the services of official service centers – they do not sell critical details with independent workshops, do not release detailed repair instructions, use software to track non -original details. As a result, users have to overpay for repairs, and sometimes completely buy a new equipment. In the United States, they are actively fighting this – in particular, Right to Repair is engaged in this. We tell you what it has achieved. Corporations limit our “right to repairs” in many ways, including very unexpected right to repair – this is the opportunity to repair their devices without restrictions on the part of manufacturers. It sounds like something obvious, and, most importantly, accessible to most people. But everything is somewhat more complicated. For example, some manufacturers of electronics, cars, agricultural equipment and medical equipment limit the sale of components and tools for repair – and provide them only to official dealers. In addition, companies are trying to limit the use of parts of someone else’s production. So, Apple non -original screens and batteries in the phones. They automatically determine the “non -native” detail, after which the gadget ceases to function normally – for example, a Face ID is turned off. Another control method is the absence of detailed repair instructions. It is difficult to imagine that in a box with an iPhone there was a guide on how to replace one or another detail. There have been no full -fledged instructions for a long time even in modern cars. A more intricate way to make the technique of the neomonted – to change its design. In pursuit of compactness, modern compacts no longer consist of individual, easily replaced elements. Instead, most of the key details are soldered into a single motherboard, which will have to be changed in the event of a breakdown. And in order to change one small non -working part, you will have to pay for the entire new fee. It is also not easy to erase some modern devices, for example, Apple Watch is almost a whole design connected by glue. To fix it yourself, firstly, is difficult, and secondly, it is dangerous-you can easily ruin the entire gadget. Another way to limit the right to repair is legal. When contacting an unofficial service, users often automatically lose their warranty. Therefore, they are forced to service the manufacturer at a higher price. Program support is the same element of devices as iron and manufacturers use this. In the United States, companies make it impossible to replace some parts without installing special software (otherwise they simply will not work), but the manufacturers do not transfer the necessary ones to third -party repair services, referring to the copyright law, adopted back in 1998. This is how it works. If the General Electrics refrigerator fails, and the owner will decide to independently replace the broken part, he will only only eliminate the breakdown. It is also necessary to reprogram the refrigerator’s motherboard using the manufacturer. Access to it is sold by subscription Smarthq for $ 919 a year, and another $ 199 costs a special cable. In total, the repair will cost more than a new refrigerator. Why is it a company’s obvious reason to earn. The more difficult the repair, the faster the user will need a new device. And if the number of service centers where the gadget can be repaired is limited, then official repair becomes more expensive. And the higher the price of the repair, the easier it is to convince the user to buy a new device. The companies explain the restrictions on the repair differently. For example, they associate it with the protection of users who may suffer from poor-quality repairs in a third-party service or attempts to independently fix something. A few more arguments that arise when discussing the restrictions related to software, are threats of cybersecurity (which if someone besides the manufacturer gets access to software?) And protecting the copyright of companies for their software. How the Right to Repair, founded in 2013, is engaged in the US MIREV, in the United States fights in the United States. In addition to volunteers, it includes organizations for the protection of consumer rights and many repair centers that lose customers due to the monopoly of manufacturers for repairs. Right to Repair advocates the adoption of bills that guarantee the right to repair, and participate in their development. The organization also urges citizens to write to its representatives in local authorities demanding to adopt a law on repairs. This struggle is quite successful. In twenty -one stages, the law on the right to repairs is being considered right now. In the six states-California, Colorado, Minnesota, Men, New York and Oregon-these laws have already been adopted. All other states were either sent for revision or rejected. On February 20, 2025, Wisconsin was the last state of the United States, where they began to consider such a bill. From state to state, adopted laws on the right to repair are different. Activists abandoned attempts to immediately introduce one large bill and move in small steps in separate areas. So, in New York and California there is a law that obliges manufacturers of household appliances to provide independent workshops for repair management, parts and tools. In Colorado there is a similar law regarding agricultural machinery. And in Oregon, electronics manufacturers are also forbidden to limit the functionality of non -original spare parts using software. As a degree adoption of the repair law in individual states, even such large companies as Apple, Google and the manufacturer of agricultural machinery John Deere, begin to support users’ right to repair. Or, at least, they cease to prevent him. In 2021, Apple allowed the owners of the devices to order original parts for independent repair (you can do this on the Self Service Repair website, where you can buy, for example, abnormalities, speakers, dynamics and even trays for SIM cards). In 2024, the company added to iOS the function of the Repair Assistant, which will help to configure the compatibility of new parts with the iPhone. At the same time, as the experiment of The Verge showed, this remains an incredibly difficult task. The situation with the “right to repair” in other countries of the United States is not so massive in other countries of the United States, but in some countries there are already progress. In separate Canadian provinces, as in the USA, local laws protect the right to repair, however, they also cover far from the entire technical assortment in the market. The European Union also has the Right to Repair Europe, which represents more than 140 organizations. Under its influence in 2024, in Europe, they accepted the directive of repairs, but, according to activists, it covers too few categories of goods, and manufacturers still have too many lasa to restrict the right to repair. There are also their laws in certain areas in Australia and New Zealand. At the same time, activists in many countries recognize that even the adoption of laws does not yet guarantee the right to repair. It is important who will monitor its execution and what sanctions will be applied to manufacturers. A striking example is the law on the right to repair cars in the United States. It was first accepted in 2012 in Massachusetts. I obliged manufacturers to provide owners and repair workshops with access to the same diagnostic information as authorized services. Two years later, American automakers signed a memorandum that extends the effect of this law to all states. At the same time, no one followed his execution – in case of violations, repair workshops were supposed to send complaints to the trading association, and not to the court. And even if the body sided with independent services, no fines were provided for any fines. 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