WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:05.839 there's a troubling trend in the technology industry more and more the 00:00:03.600 --> 00:00:10.400 devices we buy are becoming locked down through a combination of hardware and 00:00:07.680 --> 00:00:15.120 software that's designed to prevent us and independent shops from upgrading 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:19.680 repairing and in some shocking cases even using them in ways that aren't 00:00:17.199 --> 00:00:23.519 sanctioned by the original manufacturer this tight integration has brought us 00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:28.400 improvements like smaller and less expensive gadgets but it's come at the 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:32.960 cost of producing more waste making repairs unnecessarily expensive and 00:00:30.400 --> 00:00:37.920 inaccessible and even manufacturers trying to use their control over your 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:43.440 electronics to remove functionality unless you agree to pony up a monthly 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:45.600 subscription fee i mean i'm sorry what 00:00:43.440 --> 00:00:50.239 making deals and then altering them after the fact how is that even legal it 00:00:48.399 --> 00:00:55.280 sounds like some kind of fictional dystopia doesn't it but it's not 00:00:52.960 --> 00:00:59.680 it's real and it's right now thankfully we do have a solution called 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:04.720 right to repair but before we can take it from a concept to actual legislation 00:01:02.399 --> 00:01:08.479 that protects consumers small businesses and the environment we need to talk 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:12.799 about it and make sure that we are all on the same page after i tell you about 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:17.040 our sponsor glassware instantly see your current and past network activity detect 00:01:14.880 --> 00:01:21.600 malware and block badly behaving apps on your pc or Android device with glassware 00:01:19.200 --> 00:01:25.000 use offer code Linus to get 25 off at the link below 00:01:31.520 --> 00:01:38.560 every time we bring up right to repair i am surprised afresh to see that the vast 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:43.119 majority of the opposition to it comes from either people who haven't had it 00:01:40.479 --> 00:01:48.000 explained to them properly or from folks that are on board with right to repair 00:01:45.680 --> 00:01:52.880 even though they don't realize it yet so for that reason i think we should start 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:57.840 with what right to repair is not nobody is calling for manufacturers to 00:01:55.520 --> 00:02:03.040 be forced with a gun to their head to repair your stuff now many oems these 00:02:00.399 --> 00:02:07.040 days do offer voluntary repair programs for their products and sometimes they're 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:11.200 an extension of the warranty like with cos's headphones where they will repair 00:02:09.119 --> 00:02:15.760 or replace your headphones for free as long as you pay the shipping fees these 00:02:13.200 --> 00:02:20.400 types of repair programs are great for consumers but forcing a product 00:02:18.239 --> 00:02:23.840 manufacturer to implement one could add costs that will either need to be 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:28.080 absorbed by the business potentially putting it in jeopardy or passed along 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:30.560 to the customer potentially making the product more expensive in the first 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:37.040 place another common argument is that right to repair legislation would hurt innovation 00:02:35.200 --> 00:02:41.280 and on the surface this one sounds reasonable i mean if i'm apple why 00:02:39.280 --> 00:02:45.519 should i bother developing a new iphone if i'll be immediately forced to give 00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:50.400 the plans for every component to third parties who can then make their own 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:53.200 iphone without the upfront r d this is a 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:57.440 perfect example of a straw man argument most of the electronics repair industry 00:02:55.120 --> 00:03:02.000 is small shops performing relatively simple jobs like screen replacements and 00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:06.480 keyboard repairs these are things that wouldn't require apple to give up enough 00:03:04.239 --> 00:03:10.720 details about these parts for someone to make their own 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:15.440 except when they might do just that leading us perfectly to opposition point 00:03:12.959 --> 00:03:20.560 number three if manufacturers can't protect their users against fake or 00:03:18.239 --> 00:03:24.879 reverse engineered sketchy parts there is no way to ensure that the customer 00:03:22.640 --> 00:03:30.959 experience will be a safe and positive one think of this apple makes the news 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:35.519 every time an iphone lights on fire and anyone who only skims the headlines is 00:03:33.040 --> 00:03:40.319 going to miss important details like if the user had a shoddy third party 00:03:37.760 --> 00:03:44.080 charger or screwed up a diy battery replacement that's a fair point because 00:03:42.640 --> 00:03:48.879 this kind of thing can cause immeasurable long-term damage to a brand 00:03:46.640 --> 00:03:53.200 so it sure is a good thing that no one is asking for that either 00:03:51.200 --> 00:03:57.920 with right to repair no one should be able to build another company's device 00:03:55.440 --> 00:04:03.120 entirely with third-party components or manufacture patent infringing parts 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:08.480 what they should have is the right to access oem components and resources to 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:14.400 make repairs to consumers devices when required and the craziest part of this 00:04:11.840 --> 00:04:19.040 controversial stance is how uncontroversial it already is in the 00:04:17.040 --> 00:04:22.400 automotive industry we'll talk a bit more about that later on that note 00:04:20.880 --> 00:04:26.160 though we have a few videos coming out on some very cool electric vehicles so 00:04:24.320 --> 00:04:31.040 make sure that you're subscribed now the last argument against right to repair 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:36.479 yes you in the back of the room go well i don't want to repair my own stuff 00:04:33.919 --> 00:04:41.360 ah yes but that's the thing right to repair means you have the right 00:04:39.440 --> 00:04:46.000 to repair it you can still go out and buy a new one or you can have someone 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:50.720 else exercise their right to repair it for you just like with your car where a 00:04:48.320 --> 00:04:54.800 combination of laws and industry norms ensures that decades after production 00:04:53.120 --> 00:05:00.639 ended you can still get new breaks for your 97 datsun but enough about what it 00:04:57.360 --> 00:05:03.440 isn't what is it then right to repair 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:08.479 supporters know that there's no single perfect solution that's ready made right 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:10.320 now but what it's about is figuring out 00:05:08.479 --> 00:05:15.440 how to tackle the problems that i just outlined with the goal of improving 00:05:12.720 --> 00:05:20.639 consumer choice and freedom here's a hot take for you anyone who fully 00:05:17.919 --> 00:05:27.120 understands right to repair and opposes it opposes individual freedom it really 00:05:24.320 --> 00:05:30.560 honest to goodness is that simple 00:05:28.080 --> 00:05:34.560 so then particularly in america we're getting branded anti-freedom is pretty 00:05:33.199 --> 00:05:41.199 undesirable how is it that lawmakers lobbyists and 00:05:37.280 --> 00:05:44.639 corporations are working so hard at it 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:44.639 did you really have to ask 00:05:45.440 --> 00:05:51.280 i mean think about it what do you think is more profitable 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:55.120 selling you a screen for seventy dollars and billing an hour or two of technician 00:05:53.199 --> 00:05:58.000 time to replace it or selling you a brand new phone for over a thousand 00:05:56.960 --> 00:06:03.199 dollars and don't get me wrong i'm a business owner 00:06:01.039 --> 00:06:07.360 i'm not some kind of anti-capitalism activist if my business has an 00:06:05.199 --> 00:06:11.360 opportunity to make money long time viewers are going to know i'm 00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:17.280 into it but a business model that is designed to force you to buy more is 00:06:14.479 --> 00:06:22.160 unethical at best which in my mind is just another word for something that 00:06:19.440 --> 00:06:26.960 should be illegal but just isn't yet and before you guys say it planned 00:06:24.400 --> 00:06:31.759 obsolescence manufacturers forcing you to buy a new one by breaking the old one 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:36.319 that is not some kind of tinfoil hat conspiracy theory that is a real thing 00:06:34.080 --> 00:06:40.080 and has been for decades after the great depression it was 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:44.400 discussed that the things that we use should all be made to fail after a 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:48.720 certain amount of time or have specific dates where they can no longer be used 00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:53.360 to increase consumerism for the purpose of strengthening the economy i can't 00:06:50.960 --> 00:06:57.759 even make this stuff up guys and since manufacturers aren't penalized for the 00:06:55.680 --> 00:07:00.479 excess waste that this mentality generates 00:06:58.800 --> 00:07:03.440 there's never been an incentive for them to go back to making longer lasting 00:07:02.479 --> 00:07:10.400 stuff i mean if you want to see some brilliant examples of planned obsolescence in the 00:07:07.520 --> 00:07:14.479 real world veritasium just uploaded an excellent video looking at how the light 00:07:12.080 --> 00:07:19.120 bulb industry went out of their way to engineer inferior light bulbs so 00:07:16.880 --> 00:07:24.160 consumers would have to buy more of them going even as far as to find companies 00:07:21.840 --> 00:07:28.160 that produced better bulbs i ran into this personally just a few 00:07:26.080 --> 00:07:32.880 weeks ago when i purchased my new home the previous owner said to me yeah the 00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:36.560 clothes dryer it's pretty ugly and it's real old but i had a service technician 00:07:34.880 --> 00:07:40.800 come in just a couple of years ago to replace the belt and he basically said 00:07:38.880 --> 00:07:44.080 don't you ever throw this thing away they don't make them like this anymore 00:07:42.319 --> 00:07:48.400 and that example of right to repair in action is so good because it 00:07:46.160 --> 00:07:53.199 demonstrates why the status quo isn't good enough and why we need new laws to 00:07:51.199 --> 00:07:57.440 address new exploitative business strategies because here's the thing 00:07:55.599 --> 00:08:02.639 nothing prevents me from making the choice to repair that dryer rather than 00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:07.199 replace it but in the electronics industry which by the way in case you 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:12.560 didn't notice is quickly becoming every industry the same company can both 00:08:09.919 --> 00:08:17.520 profit by selling more goods and have the ability to remotely 00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:21.840 those goods forcing customers to buy more of them even if they work just fine 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:26.400 i mean that is a clear conflict of interest if i've ever seen one 00:08:23.840 --> 00:08:30.240 so then back to phones for a moment i mean it's not like you can't repair them 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:35.599 at all apple will happily sell you applecare for 150 bucks or offer you 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:38.640 repair services if you opt it out only 00:08:36.479 --> 00:08:44.720 like so many things in life the prices for uninsured repairs often don't make 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:46.320 any sense a screen replacement for 300 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:51.279 us dollars and that assumes that you have an apple 00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:54.560 store nearby that you can walk into or that you can live without your phone for 00:08:52.800 --> 00:08:58.800 a week while it's in the mail given the estimated cost of 70 for the 00:08:57.200 --> 00:09:04.720 screen of apple's latest and greatest phone and apple's reported genius 00:09:01.360 --> 00:09:06.800 salaries of about 20 to 25 an hour i 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:11.839 think it's pretty clear that this is less about taking care of customers 00:09:09.279 --> 00:09:16.240 while covering their costs and more about nudging customers towards a shiny 00:09:14.080 --> 00:09:19.760 brand new device since they're already in the store anyway and oh it only costs 00:09:18.560 --> 00:09:26.320 a few hundred dollars more than repairing the screen doesn't it now that's where independent repair shops 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:30.800 are supposed to come in and they have done so for years 00:09:28.080 --> 00:09:34.640 the problem is that over the years apple has attacked this industry going as far 00:09:32.880 --> 00:09:38.880 as rating shops over their stock of replacement parts if it has an apple 00:09:36.720 --> 00:09:42.640 logo on it and refusing to provide diagnostic tools that wouldn't be 00:09:40.640 --> 00:09:46.399 necessary if apple didn't specifically create barriers that require these 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:51.120 diagnostic tools now to apple's credit they have made 00:09:48.880 --> 00:09:55.120 progress in recent years and they've even made parts available to members of 00:09:52.959 --> 00:09:59.600 the independent repair provider program but joining the program reportedly comes 00:09:57.120 --> 00:10:04.959 with some onerous requirements including submitting to unscheduled inspections 00:10:02.560 --> 00:10:10.480 from apple remember though this isn't just about the iphone or apple it's 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:16.240 about consumer choice and freedom and apple deciding to grant its customers a 00:10:14.399 --> 00:10:21.279 little bit more ownership of their own devices that they paid for is not 00:10:18.720 --> 00:10:27.279 consumer choice and it's not freedom that should be a right not something 00:10:23.680 --> 00:10:28.880 that apple grants at its discretion 00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:33.200 another goal of right to repair is keeping devices out of landfills we're 00:10:30.959 --> 00:10:38.720 producing over 50 million metric tons of e-waste per year and a lot of it is 00:10:36.079 --> 00:10:42.800 repairable or even perfectly functional a local electronics refurbisher and 00:10:40.399 --> 00:10:46.320 recycler jeep is currently in a legal battle with apple over about a hundred 00:10:44.560 --> 00:10:50.959 thousand devices that were refurbished and resold instead of being shredded 00:10:49.040 --> 00:10:55.360 according to their agreement with apple now to be clear we're not siding with 00:10:53.120 --> 00:10:58.720 jeep here they violated their contract and we have no way of knowing if the 00:10:57.120 --> 00:11:02.399 refurbishing that they did was up to apple's standards which could damage 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:07.839 apple's brand but it does raise a larger question 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:11.120 why is apple paying to shred a hundred thousand devices when people could be 00:11:09.760 --> 00:11:15.920 using them the answer is right in apple's claim 00:11:12.880 --> 00:11:18.640 that part of the 22.6 million in damages 00:11:15.920 --> 00:11:22.959 is from lost profit due to gray market sales now i'm not trying to pick solely 00:11:20.959 --> 00:11:27.040 on apple here john deere is another company that shamelessly fights against 00:11:25.200 --> 00:11:31.600 the interest of their customers and the general public it's just apple's brazen 00:11:29.680 --> 00:11:35.920 hypocrisy that makes me keep coming back to them they have a whole page on their 00:11:34.240 --> 00:11:40.640 website that is dedicated to how eco-friendly they are but then they 00:11:38.000 --> 00:11:46.079 literally spend money to keep working devices out of consumers hands 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:50.399 to be clear apple at least makes an effort through their recycling programs 00:11:48.000 --> 00:11:56.200 but any environmentalist can tell you that reduce reuse and recycle are in 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:58.640 that order for a reason recycling 00:11:56.200 --> 00:12:01.920 particularly e-waste is not as clean as solution as you might have been led to 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:06.959 believe so with all of this in mind what can we 00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:11.120 actually do well right now lewis rossman who has 00:12:08.880 --> 00:12:15.440 been a huge advocate for right to repair and operates his own repair shop has a 00:12:13.040 --> 00:12:19.440 gofundme going to get a direct ballot initiative published in massachusetts 00:12:17.760 --> 00:12:23.760 hopefully this will lead to the push that's needed for right to repair to 00:12:20.880 --> 00:12:27.440 become a reality in the electronic space he'll be working with the same firm that 00:12:25.519 --> 00:12:31.040 managed to get right to repair pushed to a direct ballot initiative for the 00:12:28.880 --> 00:12:35.440 automotive industry which as you'll remember from my examples is a space 00:12:33.279 --> 00:12:37.839 where right to repair actually freaking exists 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:42.720 so if you want to support right to repair this is one of the best ways and 00:12:40.320 --> 00:12:45.680 the best times to go about it so a link to the gofundme is going to be in the 00:12:44.000 --> 00:12:49.200 description down below for you guys to check out i want to see what the LTT 00:12:47.760 --> 00:12:53.279 community can do and i'm going to be kicking things off with twenty thousand 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:57.360 dollars from our only fans april fool's gag to get this engine started so let's 00:12:55.519 --> 00:13:00.959 go go go boys maybe if you guys contribute enough 00:12:59.040 --> 00:13:04.399 we'll actually do some of that crazy stuff no but we're not gonna do that 00:13:02.480 --> 00:13:07.600 we're not gonna we're not doing any this video is brought to you by 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00:13:48.480 and pretty much any phone works with ting so check them out at 00:13:45.720 --> 00:13:51.600 Linus.ting.com and get 25 in credit towards your account 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:56.560 if you guys enjoyed this video you might enjoy one of our previous experiences 00:13:53.680 --> 00:14:02.160 with right to repair inconveniences when we broke our imac pro and apple refused 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:05.600 to fix it for us remember guys oh man so many people 00:14:04.160 --> 00:14:10.920 thought we wanted them to repair it for free we wanted to pay 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:10.920 they wouldn't do it