We're in a world where consumer rights are continually being eroded, but there are a couple of movements resisting this.

The right to own is the idea that if you buy a product, you own it; it becomes your property to do wish as you please, and another party taking or damaging it is unlawful.

Right to own accompanies the right to repair - if your property breaks, you're allowed to have it repaired by the technician/mechanic/etc of your choice.

Neither of these should be controversial concepts, but greedy companies will do anything for the sake of making more money.

The CRW (consumerrights.wiki) has been setup to focus on these and other anti-consumer practices which more and more companies are engaging in, helping to raise awareness of the issues and allow people to make informed decisions about which companies to avoid.

Content quality is currently very variable - because of how new it is there are large numbers of stubs and missing pages. (If anyone has spare time, spending it on improving the CRW would be a worthwhile pursuit.)

Anyway, er... discuss.

(I was hoping to make this post better, but it's too hot and I'm not feeling particularly eloquent at the moment, so I guess I'll just submit it as is.)

I really like this movement you mentioned! Like you I also enjoy and use free open source software. When we own a computer we're not coerced into using software from a particular company. Our computer is ours to use as we see fit.

I completely agree with you on the right to repair.

Trying to restrict the owners of machines from repairing their own machines (or having them repaired as they choose) is the mechanical equivalent of turning software from something you buy into something that you lease and pay for in perpetuity.

My personal view is I despise items I can't truly own even so far as simple "soft" power switches. I prefer a "hard" electromechanical switch that's either in the Off or On position, easily tested and cleaned or replaced as needed... and certainly zero risk of some corporation switching a "soft" switch out of service when the warranty is over.

In computing it's exactly why I use Slackware Linux. I can set it up where it mostly does what I want it to do, no more or no less, instead of some "butler" automation always behind my back or under foot.

On a larger scale it is my understanding the lack of "right to repair" is a huge loss for our Military services, which extends to the backs of we taxpayers. Billions of dollars of gear apparently sits around idle either for long periods or forever because of contractual terms that require calling the manufacturer to send out their experts to fix stuff (when they get around to it). How is that gonna work at a distance or worse, in battle?

Some of the repair issues are actually technical, for instance the growing integration of electronics and the abandoning of screws in favour of soldered connections.

I remember when my last television set went kaput after many years of service, I contacted a technician and he tested out the aerial and said, "It's OK. Not very good reception but it will do. The problem is in the set."

"So can you fix it?" I asked.

"No," he answered. "You can't fix modern TV sets when they go wrong because everything is soldered together inside. You'll have to buy a new one."

Legislation won't fix that problem.

You'd have to pay for new TV, pay for official technician to install it, and pay someone to take the old one away so it can be refurbished and sold again.
It's really easy to see who profits the most from these things breaking down more often than ever before.
Repair rights are needed so that these companies have no incentive to remotely break stuff, and create a situation where you must pay them weekly for your TV to even work.

There is a charity "Home Store" near where I live, selling donated furniture and other large objects. I went down there and they had several flat-screen TV sets, so I bought one and had it delivered. I can't remember what it cost but I think it was less than £100. I made an arrangement with the local council to take away the old one. They usually charge for that but you are allowed one or two free pick-ups per year. Within half an hour of putting it out, someone had mysteriously taken it away, so I cancelled the council pick-up.

I made a post here asking if anyone could guess what anyone would want with it (https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...set-4175727370)

Once we're using a suitable OS, and avoid software that places such restrictions on people, yes.

It's easier to communicate with people who use an support Free/Libre/Open software, since they already understand the benefits. Communication with "normal" people is harder, since they're less interesting in doing things themselves and don't always see how it impacts them.



Yep, both military equipment and more mundane items used by the military on deployment, like ovens...

People also end up paying more taxes/bills due to harder to repair farming equipment and medical equipment - in the latter case equipment awaiting repair directly impacts the ability/capacity to save lives.



Soldering makes it harder to repair electronics but does not prevent it.

One reason why consumer electronics are more difficult to repair is availability of commonly failing parts, because large companies like Apple and Samsung are able to bully manufacturers to not sell those parts to anyone else.

Legislation can help by making that behaviour illegal - so that independent repairers can purchase the same or equivalent parts for a fair cost, rather than having to salvage them from other equipment - allowing individuals to make the choice of who they want to give their custom to.

About right to own: the Stop Killing Games initiative is trying to get that moving by petitioning the EU parliamant. EU citizen's signatures needed...
There's also a UK petition.

You're only 80: electronics has been soldered all your life. One can buy a soldering iron and solder cheap: go for it. I suspect your TV isn't just soldered (did it have wireless valves? tubes we call them in the colonies.) but surface-mount soldered: try to unsolder one of its chips. I and savvy friends have fixed such things. Had we accounted for our time at minimum wage we'd have paid less to replace. I also repair my pickup, bicycle, kitchen appliances, plumbing, wiring, etc - not because it makes economic sense, just because I'm that sort of person. Had you looked hard enough you could have found some boffin to repair your TV - for a lot more than a new set.

I read an article somewhere about a British program to recycle old electronics: they recover the precious metals to make jewelry out of it. Dropping it in the landfill is what I most mind: thermal depolymerization can turn the plastics into diesel fuel, recover the metals, detoxify the whole.

If it's really an old TV it's not refurbishable, and, even if it were, no one would want it.

Well she noted a technician has called it a "modern TV set" or whatever...
If it has good casing and display panel, it can be refurbished. Otherwise, it's only good for spare parts.

For less than the price of replacement?

I can't imagine recovering a useful part from a modern TV.

That's because not having consumer repair rights means the guys assembling it may use glue and molten plastic instead of screws and/or solder.
I really don't know too much about TV sets though, I just build PCs from parts and some DIY audio routing..

They've been building them with glue and molten plastic long before: it's cheaper. And they've always used solder to make electrical connections.

Laptops? Do you wire your own motherboards?

Never. That's kinda like a desktop PC, but intentionally designed to overheat, and comes with locked up BIOS lacking basic features. I have a few around because folks usually just discard them, but would never personally buy any.
Nope, all my boards come new from a box, with new connectors included.
All I ever had to wire was speakers, audio cables, and 3,5mm jacks, only because I'm too cheap to buy a proper amplifier.
So it's kinda important for me to have rights to buy and install parts etc.