California: Demand Your Right to Repair

Californians, we need you to speak up today to expand your digital rights. Tell your Assemblymembers to support SB 244 (Eggman), which would make it easier to repair phones, tablets, other digital electronic equipment and appliances, and make these repairs more accessible for all Californians. But we need your help to make it happen.

These bills have the support of leading national proponents of the right to repair. They require companies to give people access to what they need to fix their stuff by selling spare parts and special tools at “fair and reasonable terms.” They also provide all customers and third-party repair technicians access to repair information, software and the ability to apply firmware patches.

Apple supports this legislation, but many other big companies do not want independent repairers to have access to these materials. Instead, these corporations want to have total control. The end result: users are disempowered, trained to go hat in hand to an official store just to change a battery when they should have the right to do it themselves. Independent repair shops are driven out of business. The electronic waste piles up, as users discard their devices rather than fixing them or donating them for re-use, and consumers pay the price.

Establishing a right to repair in California makes it easier for people to fix their broken devices, helps independent businesses, and helps the environment.