A man who keeps fighting for 'the right to repair'



The '

right to repair ' is the right of a purchaser of a product such as a PC, smartphone, or automobile to repair the product by himself / herself without going through the repair service of the manufacturer. The media 'Columbia News Service ' published by the College of Journalism reports on Mr. Luis Rothman, who is the central figure in the movement for the right to repair.

One Man's Fight for the Right to Repair Broken MacBooks --Columbia News Service
https://columbianewsservice.com/2021/05/21/one-mans-fight-for-the-right-to-repair-broken-macbooks/

For many years in fields such as electronics and automobiles, it has been common for manufacturers to monopolize product repairs or for only certain repairers to repair the product. 'Companies like Apple have the financial incentive to create monopoly from repairs and return customers directly in the event of a device problem,' said advocates of the right to repair this. I'm blaming you. By monopolizing product repairs by the manufacturer, it will be possible to charge very high costs and encourage the purchase of new products.

In recent years, there has been a growing demand for the right to repair, and on November 3, 2020, the 2020 Massachusetts Repair Rights Initiative, which stipulates consumers' right to repair their own vehicles in Massachusetts, USA. Has been passed. In March 2021, the 'Independent Repair Provider Program,' which enables product repairs using genuine Apple parts even by non-authorized service providers, began to be rolled out around the world.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg also reports that tech giants such as Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google are sending lobbyists to prevent the 'right to repair' bills considered in the US states from passing.

Microsoft and Apple Wage War on Gadget Right-to-Repair Laws --Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-05-20/microsoft-and-apple-wage-war-on-gadget-right-to-repair-laws



Luis Rothman, who runs the unlicensed Apple product repair service 'Rossmann Repair Group' in Manhattan , New York City, is one of the key players in the effort to seek the right to repair. Rothman, 32 at the time of writing the article, said he started buying, repairing and selling a broken MacBook on eBay in 2008 when he was still a student. Until then, Mr. Rothman, who had earned tens of thousands of yen a month from a part-time job with the minimum wage, said that repairing Apple products, which could earn tens of thousands of yen in a short amount of time, was a good job.

After that, Rossmann honed his skills as a repairer by breaking and repairing used Apple products himself, and opened the Rossmann Repair Group in 2012. Around the same time, I started posting on YouTube and grew it into a YouTube channel with 1.5 million subscribers at the time of writing the article.

In addition to videos that appeal for the right to repair, Rothman also posts a variety of videos on topics that are not related to chat or product repair. Rothman explained why he didn't just focus on the right to repair the videos he posted, saying, 'I made viewers feel like they were following a comedy or drama, and at some point after some twists and turns. I want them to think about their right to repair,'what can I do?' '



The Repair Association , a consumer organization that promotes the right to repair, has submitted relevant bills for 'rights to repair' in more than 25 states, inspired by the Massachusetts Auto Repair Rights Bill. Ideally, they would like to have a direct vote by the residents, such as the '2020 Massachusetts Repair Rights Initiative,' but this will cost a lot of election costs.

The Repair Association doesn't have the money to cover the cost of the election, but Rothman has set up a social welfare organization called the Repair Group Preservation Action Fund to start raising money for a referendum in Massachusetts. At the time of writing the article, it is said that only about 700,000 dollars (about 76 million yen) have been collected out of the target of 6 million dollars (about 650 million yen), and the support of millionaires who support the bill Is expected to be the key.

Rothman will actually petition for a referendum and campaign for the 2022 vote if sufficient funds are raised by August 2021, the deadline for filing a referendum petition in Massachusetts. That's right. If he loses the election, Rothman jokingly says, 'I'll go home and drink Southern Comfort.'



Rossmann is very active in seeking the right to repair, but according to Steve Younis, Chief Operating Officer of the Rossmann Repair Group, Rossmann has a very generous personality. For customers who visit the store but don't have the money on hand, Rothman may instruct them to provide only the equipment they need and then watch a YouTube video explaining how to repair it themselves. .. “What drives Lewis is to give people control over their devices,” Younis said.

in Note,   Hardware, Posted by log1h_ik