Why don’t companies want you to repair your stuff? - Aaron Perzanowski
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Today, some companies are working hard to prevent consumers from repairing products on their own. In many cases, repair can only be done by the original manufacturer, if at all. With limited repair options available, we end up buying new and throwing more items out. So, how exactly do companies prevent repair? And what can consumers do about it? Aaron Perzanowski investigates.
Additional Resources for you to Explore
If you want to learn more about these issues, you can start with Aaron Perzanowski's book, The Right to Repair: Reclaiming the Things We Own. Chapter 5, which focuses on intellectual property restrictions and repair, is available to download for free here. The Federal Trade Commission's Nixing the Fix report also provides a thorough and objective analysis of many of the legal and technical issues in the repair space.
In July of 2023, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet held a hearing on the right to repair. For a more lighthearted take on the issue, see this conversation with the Daily Show's Ron Wood, Jr. and repair advocate Louis Rossmann.
If you would like to get involved in the right to repair movement in your community, the Repair Association, PIRG, and iFixit are great places to start.
In July of 2023, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet held a hearing on the right to repair. For a more lighthearted take on the issue, see this conversation with the Daily Show's Ron Wood, Jr. and repair advocate Louis Rossmann.
If you would like to get involved in the right to repair movement in your community, the Repair Association, PIRG, and iFixit are great places to start.
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Meet The Creators
- Educator Aaron Perzanowski
- Director Nick Hilditch
- Narrator Addison Anderson
- Sound Designer Nick Hilditch
- Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
- Produced by Sazia Afrin
- Editorial Director Alex Rosenthal
- Editorial Producer Shannon Odell
- Script Editor Iseult Gillespie
