Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak endorses ‘right-to-repair’ movement
Advocates believe consumers should be able to undertake their own repairs and modifications.
Legendary Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak is endorsing the "right-to-repair" movement, lending legacy support to a burgeoning effort to give consumers more control over their electronic devices.
Right-to-repair efforts center on ensuring that customers of technological products, including electronics such as computers and smartphones, are able to access the necessary information to repair and modify those devices rather than rely solely on corporations.
In a post on YouTube this week, Wozniak said he was "totally supportive" of the movement, claiming that Apple’s early success depended partly on the ability of users to modify their products at home.
"If you know what you're doing ... you could repair a lot of things at low cost," he said, arguing further that "it's even more precious to know that you did it yourself."
Apple itself has faced criticism in recent years for exercising extreme proprietary control over its products, sharply limiting the ways in which consumers can buy and repair its phones and computers.