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Nebraska is one of eight states in the US – including Minnesota, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois, Wyoming, Tennessee and Kansas – seeking to pass "right to repair" legislation. All eyes will be on the Cornhusker state when the bill has its public hearing on 9 March, because its unique "unicameral legislature" (it's the only state to have a single parliamentary chamber) means laws can be enacted swiftly. If this bill, officially named LB67, gets through, it may lead to a domino effect through the rest of the US, as happened with a similar battle over the right to repair cars. These Nebraska farmers are fighting for all of us.
Big agriculture and big tech – including John Deere, Apple and AT&T – are lobbying hard against the bill, and have sent representatives to the Capitol in Lincoln, Nebraska, to spend hours talking to senators, citing safety, security and intellectual property concerns.
John Deere has gone as far as to claim that farmers don't own the tractors they pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for, but instead receive a "license to operate the vehicle". They lock users into license agreements that forbid them from even looking at the software running the tractor or the signals it generates.
Another article on the topic at Techdirt.
(Score: 2) by el_oscuro on Thursday March 09 2017, @11:38PM
I go news for you. Practically all power tools are made in China, and most of them are cheap junk too. I replaced my 10 year old HF drill press with a larger and considerably more expensive Delta model (also made in China), and which I hadn't. That little benchtop was a beast. The hand-tighten chuck never slipped, and I was only able to stall the motor once - while drilling a 3 1/4" forestner bit into walnut. The POS Delta chuck was worse then useless. Regardless of how tight you tried to make it, even small bits would slip and strip. I eventually bought a replacement hand chuck (also made in China) that was like the one on my old HF drill. Still not as good as it stalls more but at least the drills don't strip.
Try ordering a replacement set of armature brushes for your Dewalt (also made in China)
That saw I linked to? I bought it for a one off project in 2002. I probably need to take it apart and clean it, but with the parts manual it makes it a lot easier to put together.
While all power tools are made in China, it is pretty easy to find top quality US made hand tools at reasonable prices.
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