SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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: 2) by Snotnose on Wednesday March 27 2019, @11:31PM (4 children)
I don't own, nor will ever own, a John Deere product. But lets look at the stuff I've thrown away because I couldn't replace the battery:
1) Kindle Fire, 2 years old, just out of warranty, battery took 8 hours charge for 1 hour usage before I tossed it.
2) Cellphone. 3 years old, worked fine, battery wouldn't charge.
3) Electric razor, 5-6 years old. Sucks as I'd bought a spare set of blades for it based on my last razor (replaced the blades twice), but the battery died before the blades needed replacing.
This is beyond annoying. What's missing? My PS3 controller. Never had a battery crap out in one of those, but the hardware crapped out so I took one apart. I could replace the battery in 5 minutes. My PS4 controller? Haven't taken one apart yet.
My ducks are not in a row. I don't know where some of them are, and I'm pretty sure one of them is a turkey.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Unixnut on Wednesday March 27 2019, @11:56PM (3 children)
In all your thrown away items, the source of failure was not the complex machinery itself, but the battery.
That tells me that:
(a) battery technology sucks, so we should try to have as few things as possible running on batteries, and
(b) if your thing must have a battery, you should only buy things where the batteries are easily replaceable.
I don't get the obsession with things that don't need to be portable, being battery powered. My shaver has a power cord, I plug it in when I need to use it, and that is it. Never have to worry about batteries. I never felt an urge to shave in the garden or somewhere else not near a power socket either. So why are 95% of modern shavers on the market battery powered?
My biggest headache is having to remember to charge my phone, and laptop. There are people who now have to charge their laptop, their tablet, their smartphone, their watch, their earbuds, and their car, pretty much every single day. Just keeping track of the the "to charge" list is crazy, not to mention for a lot of the above, the ability to just replace the battery is not there. So rather than paying £3.50 or equivalent for a new smartphone battery, you got to pay £400 for a whole new phone and chuck the entire old one out.
When you think about it, it is so wasteful and environmentally unfriendly that I am surprised that (in these hyper-eco-friendly times) nobody has thought about the wasted energy, resources and pollution generated by building these complex devices only to have them fit for the landfill in a year or so, just because the battery has worn out (Even if they actually end up recycled, that requires even more energy to do).
The right to repair should be for all devices, including making core wearing components (like the battery) removable and easily replaceable.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Snotnose on Thursday March 28 2019, @12:20AM (2 children)
You 100% miss my point. In the past few years I've tossed 3 devices not because they were obsolete, but because the battery died. I shave while driving, the battery is both a time saver and vital to my workflow. The phone worked fine until the battery died. The Fire worked just fine until the battery died.
You seem to think I should live my life within 3 feet of an electrical outlet. Do you own a flashlight? Do you keep it within 3 feet of an outlet? How about your kid's Barbie doll? Got a cordless drill?
Not to mention your garage door. Do you really think it's OK to replace the garage door mechanism because your opener's battery died?
How about your I say you're a fucking idiot who's commentary should be ignored.
My ducks are not in a row. I don't know where some of them are, and I'm pretty sure one of them is a turkey.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 28 2019, @02:49AM
Most flashlights take batteries that are disposable/replaceable or rechargeable standard (usually a 18650 or 26650 from what I've seen). Why can't your shaver just use a standard battery? Tablet form factors are different, but there's little reason they couldn't use a standard battery either (it would just have to be a flat one).
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Friday March 29 2019, @12:50AM
How is this flamebait? The last person I know who would possibly buy a John Deere product died last November at the ripe old age of 83. Last time I saw him, 10-12 years ago, his 1 kid had no intention of farming. He had 3 grandkids, one was about 10 at the time, who wanted Uncle Bill to keep farming until he was old enough to take over. I have no idea how this turned out, they live 2500 miles away, I never really got along with my cousin (my age, saw him every 2 years growing up, last time I saw him he had a crush on my youngest sister (4 years younger than him), and he thouroughy pissed me off enough I never forgave him).
That said, how is my wanting to be able to easily change the battery in my phone applicable to distant relatives wanting to fix their tractors?
And how is my not wanting to toss my $300 device in the trash because I can't fix it comparable to a farmer not wanting to throw his $30,000 tractor in the trash because reasons, where reasons makes it cheaper to buy a new tractor than to pay to have this one fixed?
Oh, it's only a $60,000 tractor you say? Yeah, but it's bringing in $200k in crops. Crops that will rot in the field if not harvested Right Fucking Now, not Take A Number, We'll Get To You RSN.
My ducks are not in a row. I don't know where some of them are, and I'm pretty sure one of them is a turkey.