Wired has published a long article about how the farming equipment manufacturer John Deere has just swindled farmers out of their right to repair their own equipment. Basically the manufacturer was allowed to write the agreement governing access to the firmware embedded in the farming equipment.
Farmers have been some of the strongest allies in the ongoing battle to make it easier for everyone to fix their electronics. This week, though, a powerful organization that's supposed to lobby on behalf of farmers in California has sold them out by reaching a watered-down agreement that will allow companies like John Deere to further cement their repair monopolies.
Farmers around the country have been hacking their way past the software locks that John Deere and other manufacturers put on tractors and other farm equipment, and the Farm Bureau lobbying organization has thus far been one of the most powerful to put its weight behind right to repair legislation, which would require manufacturers to sell repair parts, make diagnostic tools and repair information available to the public, and would require manufacturers to provide a way to get around proprietary software locks that are designed to prevent repair.
Motherboard also covered the topic about how farmer lobbyists sold out their farmers and helped enshrine John Deere's maintenance monopoly.
Earlier on SN:
The Right to Repair Battle Has Come to California (2018)
Apple, Verizon Join Forces to Lobby Against New York's 'Right to Repair' Law (2017)
US Copyright Office Says People Have the Right to Hack their Own Cars' Software (2015)
Jailbreak your Tractor or Make it Run OSS? (2015)
Related Stories
Wired is running a piece about the effect of DMCA on farmers. If you think Phantom drones not flying near the White House due to a firmware upgrade is bad or jailbreaking your phone is a hassle, what would you think if your farming tractor, the one you paid some $100,000 for, does the same? Because it does!
Says Kyle Wiens:
...Over my left shoulder a massive John Deere tractor loomed. I came here to fix that tractor. So far, things weren’t going as planned.
I’m a computer programmer by training, and a repairman by trade. Ten years ago, I started iFixit, an online, DIY community that teaches people to repair what they own. Repair is what I do, and that I was being rebuffed by a tractor was incredibly frustrating.
The family farmer who owns this tractor is a friend of mine. He just wanted a better way to fix a minor hydraulic sensor. Every time the sensor blew, the onboard computer would shut the tractor down. It takes a technician at least two days to order the part, get out to the farm, and swap out the sensor. So for two days, Dave’s tractor lies fallow. And so do his fields.
...fixing Dave’s sensor problem required fiddling around in the tractor’s highly proprietary computer system—the tractor’s engine control unit (tECU): the brains behind the agricultural beast.
[More after the break.]
An Anonymous Coward offers the following:
Car owners and security experts can tinker with automobile software without incurring US copyright liability, according to newly issued guidelines that were opposed by the auto industry.
The Library of Congress, which oversees the US Copyright Office, agreed with fair use advocates who argued that vehicle owners are entitled to modify their cars, which often involves altering software.
Automakers including General Motors and other vehicle manufacturers such as Deere & Co opposed the rules. They said vehicle owners could visit authorized repair shops for changes they may need to undertake.
Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956
Over the last year, we've noted the surge in so-called "right to repair" laws, which would make it easier for consumers to repair their electronics and find replacement parts and tools. It's a direct response to the rising attempts by companies like John Deere, Apple, Microsoft and Sony to monopolize repair, hamstringing consumer rights over products consumers think they own, while driving up the cost of said product ownership. John Deere's draconian lockdown on its tractor firmware is a large part of the reason these efforts have gained steam over the last few months in states like Nebraska.
In New York, one of the first attempts at such a law (the "Fair Repair Act") has finally been making progress. But according to New York State's Joint Commission on Public Ethics, Apple, Verizon, Toyota, Lexmark, Caterpillar, Asurion, and Medtronic have all been busy lobbying to kill the law for various, but ultimately similar, reasons. And they're out-spending the consumer advocates and repair shops pushing for this legislation by a rather wide margin:
"The records show that companies and organizations lobbying against right to repair legislation spent $366,634 to retain lobbyists in the state between January and April of this year. Thus far, the Digital Right to Repair Coalition—which is generally made up of independent repair shops with several employees—is the only organization publicly lobbying for the legislation. It has spent $5,042 on the effort, according to the records."
Source: techdirt.com
California legislators are considering drafting laws that would make it easier to fix things. It is now the 18th state in the US trying to make it easier to repair or modify things, electronic or not.
Right to repair legislation has considerable momentum this year; 18 states have introduced it, and several states have held hearings about the topic. In each of these states, big tech companies such as Apple, Microsoft, John Deere, and AT&T and trade associations they're associated with have heavily lobbied against it, claiming that allowing people to fix their things would cause safety and security concerns. Thus far, companies have been unwilling to go on the record to explain the specifics about how these bills would be dangerous or would put device and consumer security in jeopardy.
It's particularly notable that the battle has come to California because many of the companies that have fought against it are headquartered there. Apple, for instance, told lawmakers in Nebraska that passing a right to repair bill there would turn the state into a "Mecca for hackers." The Electronic Frontier Foundation—which is notoriously concerned about digital security—has explicitly backed this legislation in California. Kit Walsh, a senior staff attorney for the EFF, said that the bill "helps preserve the right of individual device owners to understand and fix their property."
Yep. Hackers. And note that is what Apple does not want. Like many things this boils down to the issue of who controls the many computers you ostensibly own.
From Motherboard at vice.com: The Right to Repair Battle Has Come to Silicon Valley.
Last year dozens of 'Right to Repair' bills were introduced throughout the US, but defeated. Maybe this time its time has come.
Right to Repair bills, designed to foster competition in the repair industry, require manufacturers to allow repair, and even provide manuals, diagnosic software, and parts. Manufacturers oppose these laws as it can cost them more to address devices repaired by third parties, because repairs are a source of revenue, and because repaired items are less likely to be replaced with new ones.
[O]ne of the most effective anti-repair tactics is to spread FUD about the supposed security risks of independent repairs.
Without a concerted and coordinated effort to counteract this tactic, legislators receive primarily well-heeled opposing views, and vote accordingly.
Digital Rights/Restrictions Management (DRM) technologies affecting new tractors are behind the continuing rise in popularity of the models. Particularly in the midwest, farmers are finding that 40-year-old tractors do the job with less trouble and expense.
Tractors manufactured in the late 1970s and 1980s are some of the hottest items in farm auctions across the Midwest these days — and it's not because they're antiques.
Cost-conscious farmers are looking for bargains, and tractors from that era are well-built and totally functional, and aren't as complicated or expensive to repair as more recent models that run on sophisticated software.
"It's a trend that's been building. It's been interesting in the last couple years, which have been difficult for ag, to see the trend accelerate," said Greg Peterson, the founder of Machinery Pete, a farm equipment data company in Rochester with a website and TV show.
Previously;
Reeducating Legislators on the Right to Repair (2019)
John Deere Just Swindled Farmers Out of Their Right to Repair (2018)
US Copyright Office Says People Have the Right to Hack their Own Cars' Software (2015)
Hacking Ventilators With DIY Dongles From Poland:
As COVID-19 surges, hospitals and independent biomedical technicians have turned to a global grey-market for hardware and software to circumvent manufacturer repair locks and keep life-saving ventilators running.
The dongle is handmade, little more than a circuit board encased in plastic with two connectors. One side goes to a ventilator’s patient monitor, another goes to the breath delivery unit. A third cable connects to a computer.
This little dongle—shipped to him by a hacker in Poland—has helped William repair at least 70 broken Puritan Bennett 840 ventilators that he’s bought on eBay and from other secondhand websites. He has sold these refurbished ventilators to hospitals and governments throughout the United States, to help them handle an influx of COVID-19 patients. Motherboard agreed to speak to William anonymously because he was not authorized by his company to talk to the media, but Motherboard verified the specifics of his story with photos and other biomedical technicians.
William is essentially Frankensteining together two broken machines to make one functioning machine. Some of the most common repairs he does on the PB840, made by a company called Medtronic, is replacing broken monitors with new ones. The issue is that, like so many other electronics, medical equipment, including ventilators, increasingly has software that prevents “unauthorized” people from repairing or refurbishing broken devices, and Medtronic will not help him fix them.
[...] Delays in getting equipment running put patients at risk. In the meantime, biomedical technicians will continue to try to make-do with what they can. “If someone has a ventilator and the technology to [update the software], more power to them,” Mackeil said. “Some might say you’re violating copyright, but if you own the machine, who’s to say they couldn’t or they shouldn’t?”
I understand that there is an ongoing debate on the "right to repair". However, many manufacturers increasingly find ways to ensure that "unauthorised" people cannot repair their devices. Where do you stand on this issue? During the ongoing pandemic, do medical device manufacturers have the right to prevent repair by third parties?
(Score: 5, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Friday September 21 2018, @01:05PM (6 children)
First, the farmers should fire their lobbyists and stop payment on their most recent checks.
Second, it's against this kind of thing that geeks ought to form a real Resistance. Open Hardware and Software are already movements within our computing universe, so perhaps it can be extended to farm equipment and other areas of our material culture where companies are essentially trying to enslave their customers. The means to corporate control must be annulled.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 21 2018, @05:25PM (3 children)
Like in the old Wild West when the little guys hired a hitman to face some deep-pocket thug's abuse they always risked to get outbid and double abused.
That pretty much resumes what seems to have happened.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 21 2018, @05:27PM (2 children)
The farmers shoud have hired the A-Team.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 21 2018, @08:30PM (1 child)
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday September 21 2018, @10:32PM
Finding them is easy, these days.. Not sure they'll be much use.
George Peppard, died 1994
Dirk Benedict, 73.
Dwight Schultz, 70
Mr T, only 66
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_A-Team [wikipedia.org]
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 3, Insightful) by black6host on Friday September 21 2018, @07:41PM (1 child)
From the article:
The agreement between the Farm Bureau and John Deere is not law. However, it is my belief that there should be right to repair laws. We, as a society, are gradually being herded into an era where we "own" nothing and pay forever for usage rights. Renting is a good word. What company doesn't want guaranteed residual income? There was talk at one point of the movie industry wanting to be paid for each viewing of a DVD. Ridiculous, I say. But, it's happening. "Buy it for Life" is becoming a thing of the past.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday September 24 2018, @01:42AM
Well whaddya expect when someone named Eggman is involved?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 4, Insightful) by epitaxial on Friday September 21 2018, @01:06PM (23 children)
This actually sounds like a great business opportunity. Start a rival company that doesn't use DRM bullshit and lets people buy spare parts. With John Deere's pricing you could sell it for half their prices and still turn a profit.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Friday September 21 2018, @01:44PM (6 children)
Presumably John Deere is patented up to its eyeballs ...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by epitaxial on Friday September 21 2018, @04:47PM (4 children)
What could they possibly have patented? Machines have been doing this stuff since the days of work horses and steam power. How many different ways can crops be harvested or fields plowed?
(Score: 3, Touché) by bob_super on Friday September 21 2018, @05:14PM (1 child)
but it's now done "with a computer".
(Score: 2) by Kawumpa on Saturday September 22 2018, @08:52AM
You mean there's an app for that? ;-)
(Score: 5, Insightful) by richtopia on Friday September 21 2018, @06:52PM
It sounds like you don't understand patent law. My understanding:
1. Patent some obscure technique that is barely unique
2. Drive your competition to bankruptcy in court. It does not matter if you are right; you just need more money and lawyers
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday September 21 2018, @09:11PM
Yeah. And take computers. They've been around for decades now. Nothing new to patent there, either.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 21 2018, @04:53PM
For tractors? Equipment that has been around for decades?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by gtomorrow on Friday September 21 2018, @02:11PM (1 child)
I just don't have that kind of cash lying around...
But I was wondering: does John Deere's competition follow the same practice? Looking at the Wikipedia page [wikipedia.org], there are literally hundreds of tractor manufacturers globally.
(Score: 3, Touché) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Saturday September 22 2018, @07:52AM
Most of which are not made in USA and therefore don't exist...
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by zocalo on Friday September 21 2018, @02:15PM (5 children)
UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
(Score: 1) by TheCastro on Friday September 21 2018, @03:28PM (3 children)
So build universal hitches that connect to their hitches.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Friday September 21 2018, @08:28PM
All these farmers, with their hitches and hoes!
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Friday September 21 2018, @10:38PM (1 child)
At least one end of your hitch will infringe a patent.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 1) by TheCastro on Monday September 24 2018, @05:03PM
That's why you incorporate and ship from countries that don't give a shit about patents.
(Score: 5, Informative) by dwilson on Friday September 21 2018, @03:49PM
My own experience directly contradicts that statement, at least as far as hitches and such go. I'll agree that within each piece of equipment, vendor lock-in has reached criminal levels. Anecdotal horror story: One fellow here has two newer JD tractors, same model. He had a breakdown this spring while seeding, the tractor wouldn't even start. Had to get the field mechanic out from the local dealership. Mechanic plugged in his laptop and traced the problem to some little module tucked away near the engine. JD wanted $1200 for a replacement! My neighbour said screw that, I'll grab the one off my other tractor. He did that himself, and found the tractor still wouldn't start. It's computer refused to accept the new module until the switch had been blessed by the mechanic's laptop. Of course the mechanic was gone by that point... He swapped the modules back and brought the other tractor out, too angry to deal with JD. He ended up getting the mechanic back out later on to fix the other tractor though, and bought the new module as well. Both were still under warranty, but somehow he still got charged labour.
But as far as hitches and the like...
Lots of farmers around here have newer (post-2010) combine harvesters. Case IH / New Holland's (Both CNH Industrial brands so not very dissimilar), John Deere, even a few modern AGCO Massey-Ferguson's. But most of them aren't running with headers made by the same company. The most popular header seems to be MacDon [macdon.com]. They sell adapters to fit them on just about any combine model you can name. Shelbourne Stripper headers [shelbourne.com] are also popular. I've seen John Deere-green headers on Case IH combines, too. Mechanical, Hydraulic, and Electrical, they can be made fully compatible.
As for tractors and towed implements, there's even less lock-in as far as the hitch goes. I'd call it zero lock-in, myself. The big [versatile-ag.com] 4WD [caseih.com] tractors [deere.com] (what most people think of when they hear "farm" and "tractor") use a simple drawbar and a fairly girthy pin. I've never encountered a drawbar/pin incompatibility, except in cases of size. If the implement's tow hitch is too big for your tractor, you need a bigger tractor, manufacturer doesn't enter in to it. If you farmerize it so it can be hooked up anyway, you generally find you don't have the horsepower to pull it properly anyway.
The hydraulic hose connections are generally not the same, and may be what you were referring to with hitch lock-in, but hoses are generally NPT or JIC on the ends, and the connectors are changeable, for between $20 to $60 an end. Most farms standardize on whatever end types they have the most of to start with. It's an expense, but a small upfront one that isn't repeated. Pioneer [parker.com] seems to be the most popular around here by far, probably because they're cheaper and you can pick them up from hundreds of stores. No one likes paying vendor mark-up at the dealership, John Deere or otherwise. For those hoses without changeable ends, you take the hose off and get a replacement built, or get an adapter hose built, usually for under $100. Again, one-time expense.
As for electronics and sensors on the implements, I've yet to see a tractor and implement from the same company have built-in compatibility. When you buy an implement (say a drill seeder), it comes with an electronic box you mount in the cab of the tractor, tie in to power, and run a cable to the hitch to hook up the implement. Our steiger has three such boxes mounted in it, one for the seeder, one for the sprayer, and one for an older seeder I haven't got round to ripping out yet. Maybe now you can stick to one company for everything and keep one super-module in the cab to run it all and share the cable, but it is by no means required and I've never seen the like.
I can't think of one farm that runs all-JD or all-anything equipment. Everyone mixes and matches. This stuff is made to work together.
- D
(Score: 4, Interesting) by RS3 on Friday September 21 2018, @02:31PM (7 children)
Definitely do not buy J. Deere stuff at all. I fear all farm equipment manufacturers will follow suit though.
Being resourceful, farmers quickly found help: https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/xykkkd/why-american-farmers-are-hacking-their-tractors-with-ukrainian-firmware [vice.com] and https://boingboing.net/2017/03/22/make-hay-while-the-sun-shines.html [boingboing.net]
I'd bet that aftermarket companies will seize the opportunity to lock their own gear for power and profit. There are several aftermarket automotive fuel, spark, and engine control systems on the market, but they're all locked down too.
However, I'm pretty sure they're violating federal EPA laws against "tampering". I'm all for efficiency and clean air, but those laws are ridiculous because anyone should be allowed to modify any equipment to improve it, and have it emissions tested if needed. I suspect farm equipment contributes a negligible amount to total air pollution problems.
There are open-source engine control system projects, including some that use existing controllers, adapt the hardware, and reflash the software and parameters. Should be pretty easy to adapt to farm equipment.
This should create a market for rebuilding older equipment that doesn't have software.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 21 2018, @06:40PM (3 children)
> I suspect farm equipment contributes a negligible amount to total air pollution problems.
Just an AC here without any hard data. But, current car engines (gasoline) with closed loop control and catalysts run amazingly clean. One old uncontrolled car makes the same amount of the regulated pollutants as hundreds or even thousands of modern cars. This is what happens when the regulators double down on an easy political target--car manufacturers--and nearly forget about all the other pollution sources. Little lawn mower engines spit out much more nasty stuff than any current car, but the lawn mowers are barely regulated. [Personally, we got rid of the smelly mower and do fine with a 40V battery electric.]
What I don't know is how well controlled the big ag engines are...so no way to tell how much worse they get if the emission control systems are defeated. Unlike car engines, these working engines operate continuously at high load and there is a lot of fuel running through them (car engines normally operate at a fraction of peak power).
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Saturday September 22 2018, @06:04AM (2 children)
This is an area I know well, but I'll try to restrain my book-writing here.
Generally you don't "defeat" emission controls anymore. Before engine computers, in the late 60s to late 70s, there were things like air injection, EGR, inefficient catalytic converters, and a few others that people could / would defeat. When fuel injection / computers started in the late 70s, if you mess with anything the ECU / PCM knows and flags a dash light and you won't pass inspection, and it might likely run very poorly. There were aftermarket "chips" (ROM) that would usually improve performance and efficiency and therefor often reduce emissions, even though they're technically illegal.
Hot rodders / tinkerers have figured out that you want efficiency- you get power, better fuel mileage, and lower emissions, and they're all working in that mode.
A well-tuned "conventional" engine with a carburetor can be made to run very efficiently and clean. Long story short: 25 years ago I had a 1990 medium-sized car (V6) with of course electronic fuel injection, catalytic converter, etc. I also had a late '60s muscle car with aftermarket carb, modded ignition, mild but stronger than stock cam, headers, intake manifold, etc., and it did better in the measured tailpipe emissions tests than the 1990. Mind you I was (and still am) a tuning freak, and at the time I was not able to do anything to mod / tune the 1990 car. I tune my lawn tractor such that the exhaust has no bad smell.
An interesting (and frustrating) unintended consequence of the idiots forcing ethanol into gasoline: the ethanol wrecks havoc on small engine carburetors and fuel lines- many of the plastics and rubber parts are very incompatible and swell, crack, leaking, not working, and the net result is horrendous emissions, if the engine will run at all. The govt. should A) require manufacturers to make ethanol compatible parts, maybe paid for by govt., B) require E0 (ethanol-free) gasoline to be available for small engines. I'd be okay with a quota system. There are additives which are supposed to protect the vulnerable parts. I use it but I haven't done an A vs. B comparison to see if it works.
Electrics are great- I love them, and I've installed a few PV systems. It's definitely the way forward.
(Score: 1) by Muad'Dave on Monday September 24 2018, @01:19PM (1 child)
Part of the emissions from carbureted cars comes from the carb itself - when you turn off the car the fuel in the carb cooks from engine heat and evaporates, making hydrocarbon smog.
I recall there some car manufacturer claimed that their (fuel injected) car "polluted less running than (carbureted) car X not running".
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Monday September 24 2018, @02:20PM
This is very true. In fact some carburetored cars could be hard-starting when hot, called "hot soak", where that fuel vapor displaced too much oxygen and it took quite a bit of cranking to get it going. Of course most people would pump the throttle, pumping more fuel into the intake manifold, thus "flooding" the poor thing.
https://definedterm.com/hot_soak_emissions [definedterm.com]
https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPURL.cgi?Dockey=P10021ZD.TXT [epa.gov]
Not all carburetored cars had a big evaporation problem. And some cars had an insulator between the carburetor and (hot) intake manifold, and a heat-shield too.
I don't know of anyone doing this, but I betcha a pack of "activated" carbon inside of the air cleaner would help with this. Somewhere I think I remember seeing a hose running from an air cleaner housing to a charcoal canister but I don't swear to it. I surmise it was part of both purge and hot-soak remedy.
I would love to see the numbers on this. I'm all for clean air, but some things really are negligible, and the cost / effort / energy spent trying to fix it end up being worse overall. I understand the claim of "polluted less running than (carbureted) car X not running" but I'd have to see some numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 21 2018, @09:14PM (2 children)
Does the farmer make more money faster with Deere equipment? (or lower personnel costs / less training? or gets some other compensation for using it?) It's easy to say "Hey, don't buy [lease] that!" if you're not the one managing the profit and loss.
We might not like it, but last I checked walled gardens are legal so long as one has an alternative.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 21 2018, @10:06PM
Walled gardens and digital restrictions management should not be legal, however. That is the point.
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Saturday September 22 2018, @06:10AM
I'm not a farmer nor do I know any, but I should know a bit more about this. I doubt any major brand is any better. The story I've read recently is that there will be a single brand equipment dealer in a particular area and the farmers either buy that brand, or have to travel great distances to buy equipment and parts.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Bobs on Friday September 21 2018, @01:10PM (20 children)
This is the sort of thing that brings out the pitchforks and drives people to vote for the likes of Trump with an attitude of ‘burn it all down.’
You have people just trying to live and run a farm, paying their dues.
And the people who are supposed to be working for them, who have one job to do, sell them out.
How to make people feel powerless, and give up on the system.
“An honest politicians is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought”
- Simon Cameron 1799 - 1899
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/simon_cameron_128832 [brainyquote.com]
(Score: 5, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Friday September 21 2018, @02:10PM (13 children)
DRM, Hollywood, and intellectual property is the area I'm most at odds with the Democrats. But let's not kid ourselves that Republicans are any better on this issue. One of Lessig's complaints is that even on these intellectual property expansions which are opposed by over 90% of the public, the politicians of both parties take the bribes and vote against our wishes.
I'd vote for the Pirate Party candidates if there were any.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Pino P on Friday September 21 2018, @03:25PM (3 children)
The procedural problem with the Pirate Party in the United States is that the best-known planks of its platform are in areas where the Congress has preempted state governments, such as copyright and patent law. This sort of closes the opportunity for local Pirate Party organizations to gain influence at the local and several-state levels before expanding to a coordinated campaign to push the agenda federally.
Or what are good issues for a local Pirate Party organization to push?
(Score: 1) by TheCastro on Friday September 21 2018, @03:30PM
If you create states where the state won't enforce those federal rules they might as well not even exist.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 21 2018, @05:21PM
Municipal broadband, get rid of ref light cameras if they exist, stop using the police as funding and probably cut the size of the force, cut out unnecessary bureaucracy where it exists, and other stuff that sensible people would do if they were in local government.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 21 2018, @05:34PM
I'd vote for the Pirate Party candidates if they hadn't called themselves pirates, which certainly none if any of their potential voters are or ever will be.
(Score: 1) by nitehawk214 on Friday September 21 2018, @03:54PM
Yeah, when it comes to copyright, digital rights, online free speech, etc; this is a place where both parties are exactly the same. Sure, they might favor one group over another in order to pander for votes (especially when it comes to determining who gets "free speech"); but make no mistake, no politician is your friend.
"Don't you ever miss the days when you used to be nostalgic?" -Loiosh
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Friday September 21 2018, @06:22PM (6 children)
There is no Pirate Party in America, but there is an urgent need for something like it. I would vote for it, too.
Last year I read the platform for the Pirate Party in Iceland, and at long last it sounded like somebody on Planet Earth had finally understood that we live in the 21st century now. It sounded so relevant, so refreshing.
"Pirate" Party wouldn't play in the US as a brand, I'm sure, but its substance sure would.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Saturday September 22 2018, @06:12AM (5 children)
They should call themselves the Rebel Party.
Sort of related and I think Rebels would sound a lot better than Pirates to American ears. Capitalise on the whole revolt against mainstream candidates thing.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 22 2018, @11:24AM (1 child)
They'd get called racist nazis. The confederates were rebels.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 22 2018, @05:45PM
All the better.
Make de-militarizing police and holding officers fully accountable when they commit murder a plank.
BLM will agitate against it. Use it as an opportunity to demonstrate their hypocrisy and support for the very system responsible for the disproportionate violence, arrests, and prosecution blacks face.
Remember when BLM agitated against Bernie Sanders? Where was their opposition to Ms. Superpredator? And now we have a racist pussy-grabber in office.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday September 22 2018, @12:30PM (2 children)
You're thinking Star Wars, but most people would probably think Confederacy. That would win in the South but not many other places.
What about something more generic, like the Good Party? Then candidates could say, "I'm the only one in this race from the good party." The organisation could say, "come join the good party!" Or " good things come to those who vote" or "if you want good, vote for Good."
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Sunday September 23 2018, @11:39AM (1 child)
If you're going that route, how about "The Honest Party"?
"I'm the only Honest candidate in this race", "My opponent is not an Honest man*". "Vote for an Honest politician"
*or Honest woman as the case may be.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Monday September 24 2018, @02:14PM
I like it. That would work.
We come up with a platform of policy goals (borrowing heavily from the Pirate Parties of Europe and Iceland). Keep the list short, fundamental, to discourage the inevitable, "What about mandating every public bus have free wifi?!" proposals that some folks always want to tack on. Carefully recruit a pool of, say, 20-30 candidates dedicated to pushing that list. Make sure the digital infrastructure is in place to quickly onboard new supporters.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 3, Informative) by crafoo on Friday September 21 2018, @09:10PM
Yep. The problem is our elected representatives in government are not representing citizens' concerns, and instead represent corporate concerns. That's where the money comes from. We have a real problem.
(Score: 2) by idiot_king on Friday September 21 2018, @02:21PM (4 children)
The problem is that low-information voters are always running from the arms of one group of capitalist pigs to another. The solution is simple - put the power back in the hands of the people. But as long as people in this country think "socialism" is a dirty word, it'll never happen...
(Score: 2, Insightful) by schad on Friday September 21 2018, @03:07PM (2 children)
It's interesting that you think that capitalism and socialism are incompatible, despite the fact that every non-failed socialist state in the world is also capitalist.
(Score: 2) by idiot_king on Friday September 21 2018, @03:31PM
State capitalism != Socialism
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 22 2018, @05:53PM
I've been listening to the Trotskyists [wsws.org] (socialism + democracy, empowering workers the way it should be--I hesitate to say "democratic socialism"), and I like what they're saying. Capitalism as a macroeconomic strategy would make sense, and I'm not sure the Trotskyists have good proposals to encourage innovation. We need something like Trotskyism, and I think that they're right that at this point, we need a revolution that can only come from the working class. Stalinism and Maoism demonstrate that socialism cannot be implemented in a meaningful way without a revolution against an existing capitalist system.
We can hope it would be a peaceful revolution using the soap box, jury box and ballot box. It's looking more and more like the ammo box is all that's left.
(Score: 3, Touché) by curunir_wolf on Friday September 21 2018, @08:27PM
I am a crackpot
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday September 21 2018, @03:08PM
Farmers being completely screwed by suppliers, distributors, and high finance is a story that goes back to at least the 19th century. The period where one could actually get ahead as a farm family was basically a fluke of post-war America.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 21 2018, @01:57PM (2 children)
OK, so, the date is the problem. Whether you can access source code doesn't really mean too much. The agreement is not exactly a "sell out" especially now where they can lock things down with DRM and you can't change things or know what is even broken.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Arik on Saturday September 22 2018, @01:06AM (1 child)
That's an instant deal-breaker for any buyer with a brain.
I'm still hoping to find proof they exist; I'll be interested in seeing how JDs sales figures hold up for the next couple of years.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 22 2018, @11:33AM
How does a tractor have source code? Am I missing something here?
Turn it on, drive it. Right?
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 21 2018, @03:47PM
These are probably the same farmers that voted GOP in exchange for subsidies. Surprise, politicians don't give a shit about you and are happy to sell your digital rights.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Spamalope on Friday September 21 2018, @04:03PM (1 child)
It looks like John Deer determined that the farmer lobbyists were cheaper to pay off than the politicians. Should we call this Deer John DRM from now on?
(Score: 2) by curunir_wolf on Friday September 21 2018, @08:30PM
It was the Farm Bureau. They do this kind of two-faced crap all the time. Very much like the "Chamber of Commerce" in that regard, who claim to represent US businesses but are really all about making sure the "commerce" is cheap foreign labor and free marketing to US consumers.
I am a crackpot
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 21 2018, @04:34PM (1 child)
To be fair, these locks are primarily in place because certain farmers like to do things like modify their tractor's drive configuration to get more power out of it, then when it inevitably breaks down because that's what happens when you overclock things, undo the modification and take it back to the dealer for free under-warranty repair.
Not that it doesn't also give dealers a repair monopoly. But John Deere dealers are a different part of the bureaucracy than the engineers, so there's no real incentive to give dealers more business. That would be like the hardware department paying for better computers out of their budget just because it would make the engineers more productive, and we all know that would never, ever happen. The only reason this firmware lock happened is because engineering has to pay for under-warranty repairs.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Arik on Saturday September 22 2018, @01:03AM
Even if it is true, it doesn't justify a 'fix' that involves trampling on free speech in general.
"The only reason this firmware lock happened is because engineering has to pay for under-warranty repairs."
Perhaps they will try to find a way to reduce their warranty costs without treating their customers like sub-humans if they notice a steep decline in sales.
I've already noticed a strong surge in demand for older tractors over the past few years, old ones that you'd expect to be scrapped are even getting restored to use in preference to new tractors.
It might cost you as much to restore an old one as to buy a new one, but at least when you're done working on the old one, you own it, and you can keep it running.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 21 2018, @09:25PM
This sort of shit you try to pull off is why the last tractor I bought was a Kioti.