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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: 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?