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from the Tractors-and-combines-are-just-iphones-on-wheels dept.
Farmers have been getting screwed by a combination of DRM linked to DMCA legalisms that effectively make farmers into criminals if they modify their own farming equipment, forcing them to choose between breaking the law or paying extortionate fees to equipment manufacturers for both hardware and software fixes.
Elizabeth Warren recently announced a new broad policy agenda focused on helping farmers. But buried in it is something everybody here can get behind too - the right to repair:
Consolidation is choking family farms, but there’s a whole lot of other ways in which big business has rigged the rules in their favor and against family farmers. I will fight to change those rules.
For example, many farmers are forced to rely on authorized agents to repair their equipment. Companies have built diagnostic software into the equipment that prevents repairs without a code from an authorized agent. That leads to higher prices and costly delays.
That’s ridiculous. Farmers should be able to repair their own equipment or choose between multiple repair shops. That’s why I strongly support a national right-to-repair law that empowers farmers to repair their equipment without going to an authorized agent. The national right-to-repair law should require manufacturers of farm equipment to make diagnostic tools, manuals, and other repair-related resources available to any individual or business, not just their own dealerships and authorized agents. This will not only allow individuals to fix their own equipment — reducing delays — but it will also create competition among dealers and independent repair shops, bringing down prices overall.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 27 2019, @10:36PM (1 child)
> Opening the box voids the warranty...
The US has the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act which was passed to prevent car manufacturers from cancelling warrantees if an independent mechanic (or owner) worked on the car. But it applies to all products, not just cars. The problem here is that megacorps have perverted the intent of the DMCA to add another layer of lockout beyond the protections of Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. They still can't cancel your warrantee, but they can arrest you...
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Thursday March 28 2019, @02:21AM
They can, and do, make fake warranties. To get warranty coverage, they stipulate that you must take the item to one of their approved shops, which charges inflated prices for labor. And, what do you know, the warranty only covers the cost of parts. Labor is not included. The labor costs more than a new item. Viola! Throwaway economy!
Oh, and, not all parts are covered. One part will have a lifetime warranty, another part will have a 10 year warranty, and still another part will have no warranty at all. LG's so called warranty features all that stuff.