Google Supports Oregon ‘Right To Repair’ Reform

Big tech companies have long attempted to monopolize repair options to boost their profits, whether we're talking about tractors, phones, or game consoles.

But in recent years companies like Apple and Microsoft appear to have realized that with state and federal lawmakers and regulators cracking down on this behavior, and right to repair seeing widespread, bipartisan consumer support, it might be smart to stop swimming upstream when it comes to right to repair."

Both Microsoft and Apple have slowly and begrudgingly started making their hardware easier to fix, and have even at times come out in support of certain state and federal right to repair legislation. Now Google has also somewhat pivoted on the issue, coming out in support of Oregon's looming right to repair legislation, which aims to make tools, parts, and manuals easier to access.

Said Google in a new white paper:

Repair must be easy enough for anyone to do, whether they are technicians or do-it-yourselfers. This requires that as manufacturers we design products in a manner that enables simple, safe, and correct repairs wherever and by whomever they are done. This is what we call design for serviceability."

Keep in mind this support" isn't always consistent, and many of these companies only support reform as-so-far as their lawyers are writing the laws, ensuring they're filled with ample loopholes.

Apple, for example, got widespread press praise for doing a 180 on right to repair" after it supported California's right to repair law. But upon closer inspection many of the company's initiatives were somewhat hollow. It still actively supports anti-consumer behaviors like software locks and parts pairing" (forcing customers to buy interconnected assemblages of parts), and it opposed Oregon's reform law.

Three states have now passed right to repair laws (New York, Minnesota, California), with Oregon on deck next month. But while many of these laws have been significant improvements (Minnesota), others (New York) were watered down by tech lobbyists after passage, almost to the point of uselessness.

New York's law, for example, was boiled down to exclude coverage of the automotive, medical equipment, or agricultural gear sectors, where most of the worst, ham-fisted efforts to monopolize repair are ongoing (consolidation of repair options, monopolization of parts, obnoxious and punitive DRM, or actively making tools and manuals hard to come by to discourage independent repair).

So while it's great to see these companies at least begin to make an effort when it comes to right to repair reforms, it's still a mistake to take them exclusively at their word.