[Big Tech Wages] War on Gadget Right-to-Repair Laws
Dozens of states have raised proposals to make it easier to fix devices for consumers and schools, but tech companies have worked to quash them.
Sometimes, though, Millman can’t fix them. It’s not that he’s technically incapable. It’s that the parts and schematics aren’t available, usually because device manufacturers, including the world’s richest companies—like Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google—don’t share them. Several students recently came to Millman with defective WiFi cards on their Chromebooks, laptops designed only to work when connected to the internet. That card widget “is not a particularly hard-to-find or expensive part,” Millman explained—but the laptop maker requires a specific version to be installed and Millman isn’t on the shortlist of approved repair providers. He counts 25 schools he works with facing an identical flaw. “And that’s just me,” he said.