Minnesota: Demand Your Right to Repair

There is something all Minnesotans can do to expand their own digital rights. Tell your lawmakers to support H.F. 1138, a right to repair bill that would help the state‘s residents by making the repair of phones, tablets and other digital electronic equipment easier and more accessible.

H.F. 1138 has the support of leading national proponents of the right to repair. It requires manufacturers of digital electronic equipment to make documentation, parts, and tools available to independent repair providers. Failing to do so opens companies to enforcement from the Attorney General.

Right now, 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 the Apple store just to change a battery (rather than doing it themselves). Independent repair shops are driven out of business. And the electronic waste piles up, as users discard their devices rather than fixing them or donating them for re-use.

Establishing a right to repair in Minnesota makes it easier for people to fix their broken devices, rather than having to throw them away and buy new ones. That is good for all Minnesotans.

Tell your lawmakers to support H.F. 1138.