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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)
(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.