Louis Rossmann
Founder & Lead Technician
Right to Repair Advocate · Electronics Technician · Educator
I run an independent repair shop where my team fixes MacBooks that manufacturers often deem "unrepairable" and recovers data from drives others call dead. I advocate for your right to repair what you own, consumer rights, and the ability to say you own what you bought and paid for. I've testified before state legislatures, been featured in the Wall Street Journal and CBC, and taught millions through YouTube how to diagnose and repair their own devices.
Background
The Beginning
I was born in 1988 in New York City. I was working at a recording studio and wanted to be an audio engineer when I bought a broken MacBook to use for a side session. I repaired it, and once I was done I sold it for a profit. This first repair made me realize there was value in fixing what others threw away.
Building the Business
I founded Rossmann Repair Group in 2008. I taught myself component-level repair, replacing individual failed chips instead of swapping whole logic boards, over years of late nights. This allows us to fix devices for a fraction of the manufacturer's quote.
NYC to Austin
After operating in Manhattan for over a decade, we relocated to Austin, Texas in 2022.
Expertise
The Lab
My team runs a national hard drive data recovery lab in Austin. We use PC-3000 utilities and an in-house clean bench on drives that won't spin, won't mount, or won't read past a certain sector.
Some of what arrives here is not a drive failure at all. On a MacBook with a T2 or Apple Silicon chip, the SSD is soldered down and the encryption keys live in that chip, so the storage cannot be moved to a donor board and read there. When the board dies, the only route to the data is repairing the board. That is what component-level logic board repair is for.
Right to Repair Advocacy
I've traveled to state legislatures to give technical testimony on why independent repair is safe, secure, and economically important.
Legislative Testimony
I've testified at right to repair hearings in Massachusetts, Nebraska, Maine, and Washington.
Fundraising & Professional Advocacy
I raised $1 million for Repair Preservation Group and close to $1 million for the Repair Preservation Group Action Fund.
After years of leading these efforts myself, I switched to hiring professional lobbyists and organizers. Funding meant legislative efforts could be navigated by experts familiar with the process.
Organizations
Founder
Non-profit (501c3) focused on education and maintaining repair.wiki.
Co-Founder
A non-profit working to reform DMCA Section 1201, the 1998 law that can make it illegal to bypass software locks on devices you own, even for repair or personal use.
The goal is political reform. We want to make sure consumers have legal access to and control over the devices they purchase in an increasingly anti-ownership world.
Programs & Initiatives
Pays developers to bypass anti-consumer software locks, which shows lawmakers how Section 1201 prevents legitimate repair and ownership.
Public database documenting anti-ownership practices: bricked devices, revoked features, DRM-locked consumables, and subscription traps. Serves as evidence for legislative testimony.
Director of Community Outreach
2022–2025. Advocated for tech independence.
Consumer Rights Wiki
consumerrights.wiki is a public database documenting anti-consumer behavior: bricked devices, revoked features, DRM-locked consumables, and subscription traps. It serves as a permanent record for when companies revoke ownership rights.
I originally ran this wiki at wiki.rossmanngroup.com under Rossmann Repair Group. After founding FULU Foundation USA, I moved it to its own domain at consumerrights.wiki under the nonprofit. Same wiki, same editor, new home. Old wiki.rossmanngroup.com URLs redirect to their counterparts on the new domain. Background on why the wiki belongs in a nonprofit lives on the FULU Foundation page.
Media & Recognition
I've been featured in the Wall Street Journal, CBC News, BBC, CNN, Tom's Hardware, Vice, and other publications.
The CBC Investigation That Went Viral
In October 2018, CBC News brought me a MacBook Pro that an Apple Store in Toronto had quoted more than $1,200 to repair. The store said it needed significant repairs.
The actual problem was a bent pin on the display cable. I bent the pin back into place. No parts required.
The segment spread widely and has reached 20M+ views across platforms, highlighting how repairable issues are sometimes quoted as full replacements.
Read the full CBC article →Selected Press Coverage
Louis Rossmann is suing Samsung after firm offers refund for defective SSD while still selling the drives on Amazon
A 4TB 990 Pro failed inside its warranty period. Samsung tested it, returned it still dead, then offered a cash refund citing a lack of stock while the same drive was listed on its own Amazon store. The dispute is headed to court in Austin.
Read ArticleLouis Rossmann tells 3D printer maker Bambu Lab to 'Go (Bleep) yourself' over its threatened lawsuit against enthusiast
Bambu Lab sent a cease and desist to developer Pawel Jarczak over an OrcaSlicer fork that connected directly to its printers, and he took the project down. Rossmann pledged the first $10,000 of the legal costs if Jarczak put it back up.
Read ArticleHow the 'Right to Repair' Might Save Your Gadgets; and Save You Money
Joanna Stern's article on the right to repair, where Louis Rossmann repairs a MacBook Pro.
Read ArticleDHS Seized Aftermarket Apple Laptop Batteries
Coverage of U.S. Customs seizing legitimate aftermarket batteries labeled as counterfeit, highlighting supply chain challenges for independent shops.
Read ArticleApple founder Steve Wozniak backs right-to-repair movement
International coverage of the movement gaining support from Apple's original engineer.
Read ArticleApple co-founder Steve Wozniak: 'It's time to recognize the right to repair'
Reporting on Wozniak's call for open technology and support for the cause.
Read ArticleYouTube Education
I've used YouTube to document the repair process out in the open. I show the entire diagnostic process, start to finish. The channel serves as a free educational resource for technicians worldwide.
Content Includes:
- Live MacBook logic board repairs at component level
- Right to Repair legislative updates
- Data recovery walkthroughs
- Design flaw exposés
Teaching component-level repair techniques
Recognition
Steve Wozniak Endorsement
In July 2021, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak publicly endorsed the Right to Repair movement. He recorded a Cameo video for me backing the cause:
"We wouldn't have had an Apple had I not grown up in a very open technology world."
"It's time to start doing the right things. It's time to recognize the right to repair more fully."
"This one has really gotten to me."
This endorsement from the engineer who built the Apple I and Apple II was an important moment. It validated that open repairability was part of Apple's original DNA.
Connect
Need Repair or Data Recovery?
Rossmann Repair Group handles MacBook logic board repair, hard drive data recovery, and SSD recovery in-house at our Austin lab.
Free evaluation. No data = no charge.
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