The Right to Repair Movement Will Keep On Fixin’

“The big question is, can we continue this pro competition populist movement?” Wiens says. “Can populism really infect and take over both parties? Because both parties have been very corporate for so long.”

That populism may translate to consumer-focused measures in the new Trump era, but it isn’t certain. Vance has talked at length about his support for more competition in the tech market, as well as policy that would aim to break up big companies like Google. Trump has also signaled his opposition to some of the Big Tech companies—often the ones that have upset him personally—but in his last term generally made lives easier for corporations and the wealthy with tax cuts and favorable legislation. The administration may be up for helping to push policies that address the right to repair efforts. (Though we’ll see how the newly created government efficiency department helmed by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy decides to prioritize government spending.)

“Are we going to enable an era of increased competition, which will make America more resilient on so many levels, or is Trump going to go with his billionaire buddies?” Wiens says. “We just don’t know with Trump.”

Of course, the US isn’t the only battleground for reparability movements. The European Union will also drive legislation on product design and repair requirements that will ripple out to devices sold elsewhere. Nathan Proctor, the senior director of the campaign for the right to repair at the nonprofit interest group PIRG, says the best strategy is a varied one that incorporates repair allies from all over.

“I’m probably not going to put too many eggs in the federal basket,” Proctor says. Instead, he says that PIRG is focused on repair efforts on a more local or state level. “There are a lot of other great state and local lawmakers, other folks that really care about the right to repair. And there’s a lot of opportunity to keep going. I’m not counting anything out.”

Ultimately, both Wiens and Proctor say they will continue their fight no matter what political turmoil swirls around the White House and Congress. And appealing to a wide range of political views will certainly help. For example, Proctor cites efforts that PIRG has made to work with veterans groups to advocate for more repairability in the armed forces. Because it turns out that even active duty military and medical equipment aren’t immune to software locks and being bricked by service updates that the user can’t fix themselves.

“We just have to get to work,” Proctor says. “I don’t want to prognosticate, like, ‘Oh, everything’s fine.’ Because I don’t know that. I don’t have that information. But I do know that no matter what hand gets dealt, we have things that we can do to speak truth to power and to protect our communities and to move things forward.”