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If you can’t open it, you don’t own it

maker bill of rights

The tremendous growth technology has provided us with some incredible gadgets in the past years. We've got handheld projectorspocket sized devices that browse the web, and so much more.

But this growth comes hand in hand with it's fair share of problems. In my mind however, one of the biggest issues is that hardware is increasingly being designed to be disposable. Is your iPod battery dead? Toss it out and get a new one! Your camera's screen is cracked? Just pitch it, the new one is better/faster/cheaper anyway!  To stand up against this mentality Make magazine has issued the Maker's Bill of Rights.

The documents goes as follows:
▪    Meaningful and specific parts lists shall be included.
▪    Cases shall be easy to open.
▪    Batteries should be replaceable.
▪    Special tools are allowed only for darn good reasons.
▪    Profiting by selling expensive special tools is wrong and not making special tools available is even worse.
▪    Torx is OK; tamperproof is rarely OK.
▪    Components, not entire sub-assemblies, shall be replaceable.
▪    Consumables, like fuses and filters, shall be easy to access.
▪    Circuit boards shall be commented.
▪    Power from USB is good; power from proprietary power adapters is bad.
▪    Standard connecters shall have pinouts defined.
▪    If it snaps shut, it shall snap open.
▪    Screws better than glues.
▪    Docs and drivers shall have permalinks and shall reside for all perpetuity at archive.org.
▪    Ease of repair shall be a design ideal, not an afterthought.
▪    Metric or standard, not both.
▪    Schematics shall be included.

I understand that companies have a desire to keep on manufacturing and selling their products, and that designed obsolescence is a great way to further this goal , but the waste that is generated is just too much. We're seeing tons of e-waste shipped to third world countries and just dumped. This has some pretty huge environmental impacts when you consider just what is in our beloved electronics.

I also understand that the smallness of many of our gadgets is highly based on electronics becoming integrated, which makes repairing a single part much more complicated. I'm not trying to say we should stifle innovation and making our electronics more accessible. What I am saying is that devices need to be designed so that end users can repair minor problems, or recycle them meaningfully for larger problems.

Admittedly I haven't yet full committed to the Maker Bill of Rights. I still rely on my iPod, laptop, and dozens of other gadgets that are largely designed to never be opened. But I still believe in the Bill of Rights, and I'm working towards this goal. I do my best to repair broken electronics and scavenge what I can't fix. I believe that we can have sustainability and fun/useful electronics: I just think we need a definite change in the way we do things if this will ever be a reality.