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posted by chromas on Friday September 21 2018, @12:00PM   Printer-friendly
from the sowing-machines dept.

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)


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  • (Score: 2) by deimtee on Saturday September 22 2018, @06:12AM (5 children)

    by deimtee (3272) on Saturday September 22 2018, @06:12AM (#738488) Journal

    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.
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 22 2018, @11:24AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 22 2018, @11:24AM (#738517)

    They'd get called racist nazis. The confederates were rebels.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 22 2018, @05:45PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 22 2018, @05:45PM (#738605)

      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)

    by Phoenix666 (552) on Saturday September 22 2018, @12:30PM (#738527) Journal

    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)

      by deimtee (3272) on Sunday September 23 2018, @11:39AM (#738812) Journal

      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

        by Phoenix666 (552) on Monday September 24 2018, @02:14PM (#739163) Journal

        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.