Whether it be electronics, automobiles or medical equipment, the manufacturers should not be able to horde “oem” parts, render your stuff useless if you repair it with aftermarket parts, or hide schematics of their products.
Summary video by Marques Brownlee
Great channel covering and advocating right to repair, Lewis Rossman
It's actually insane how many functional, less than 5 years old computer/laptops get thrown in the garbage. Usually for minor software issues that can be corrected by a reformatting.
I worked with a nonprofit that did ewaste things. Fully funded from reselling the fixed computers. And still gave away about 1/3 of the total hardware to people who needed it for free.
the crackle of soldering irons
Start by repairing the soldering irons!
"Seelampur processes approximately 30,000 tonnes (33,069 tons) of e-waste daily, providing employment to nearly 50,000 informal workers"
That's a whole lot of e-waste. Planned obsolescence is just another example of corporate greed ruining the environment for short term profit. It's infuriating that it's just business as usual at this point.