Right to Repair

Last year, Simone Cicero wrote on CheFuturo (Italian) that:

The Increvable (which means tireless or deathless in French) is a washing machine designed to last FIFTY YEARS. When ready for the initial release, it should be available already assembled, or as an IKEA-style assembly kit.

We recently wrote that: The biggest impact will come when digital DIY is allowed or pushed to move down the pyramid of needs [to] mass customization of low-tech objects that everybody already needs and use". Here is a real world example:

The maker and DIY movement embeds a high potential in terms of technological and social innovation. Amateurs, prosumers, craft consumers are engaged in the production of the artefacts they need, enabled by the use of rapid manufacturing technology, such as 3D printers and laser cutters.

On October 1st I had an interview with David Bollier. Given his decade long work on the commons, as researcher and activist, author of books like Viral Spiral and in particular his work on Laws and the Commons, I thought that his perspective would be meaningful for our research in the DiDIY project. In particular for our work on rights and responsibilities, but also more in general to the various workpackages that make up the project.

I recently came across something which is, I believe, a good starting point to speculate (and, of course, research!) about some very specific impacts of Digital DIY (DiDIY) on "consumer rights", and on the retail and manufacturing industries in general.