Apple and John Deere Shareholder Resolutions Demand They Explain Their Bad Repair Policies - iFixit:
Apple and John Deere, primary antagonists of the Right to Repair movement, may soon have to explain their domineering repair programs to one of their most demanding audiences: their shareholders.
U.S. PIRG, working with its affiliated socially responsible mutual fund company, Green Century Funds, has filed shareholder resolutions with both Apple and John Deere, asking them to account for “anti-competitive repair policies." Both resolutions admonish the companies for fighting independent repair and ignoring the broad political shift toward Right to Repair laws.
Touch ID stops working if you replace the fingerprint sensor on your iPhone. This used to brick iPhones; now it’s just the sad reality of iPhone repair.
Green Century’s Apple resolution says that the company “risks losing its reputation as a climate leader if it does not cease its anti-repair practices.” Noting that internet-connected devices will account for 14% of greenhouse gas emissions by 2040, Green Century’s resolution demands the company reverse course to “mitigate regulatory and reputational risks and bolster the company's ambitious climate commitments.”
[...] The John Deere resolution calls out the company’s broken promise to make crucial repair software available to farmers. "Company representatives are quick to point out that less than 2% of all repairs require a software update," Green Capital Funds notes. "However, Deere does not disclose what percentage of the repair sales the 2% represents."
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The shareholder fight that forced Apple's hand on repair rights
Wednesday morning, Apple announced that the company will soon make parts and repair manuals available to the general public, reversing years of restrictive repair policies. The new policy represents a seismic shift for a company that has fought independent repair for years by restricting access to parts, manuals, and diagnostic tools, designing products that are difficult to fix, and lobbying against laws that would enshrine the right to repair.
But Apple didn't change its policy out of the goodness of its heart. The announcement follows months of growing pressure from repair activists and regulators — and its timing seems deliberate, considering a shareholder resolution environmental advocates filed with the company in September asking Apple to re-evaluate its stance on independent repair. Wednesday is a key deadline in the fight over the resolution, with advocates poised to bring the issue to the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve.
Apple spokesperson Nick Leahy told The Verge that the program "has been in development for well over a year," describing it as "the next step in increasing customer access to Apple genuine parts, tools, and manuals." Leahy declined to say whether the timing of the announcement was influenced by shareholder pressure.
Apple makes parts and manuals available to all (15m35s Louis Rossmann video)
See also: Apple makes a concession to 'right to repair' movement, will let you repair your own iPhone
Opinion: Another Apple PR fail as company waits until forced to act over Right to Repair
Apple gives in on right-to-repair
Apple Folds to Right to Repair Movement – Will Allow Customers to Perform iPhone, Mac Repairs From 2022
Previously: Apple Sued an Independent iPhone Repair Shop Owner and Lost
Apple Exports Independent Repair Provider Program to Europe and Canada
Apple, Microsoft, and Google Team Up to Block Right to Repair Laws
Apple and John Deere Shareholder Resolutions Demand They Explain Their Bad Repair Policies
Leaked Apple Training Videos Show How it Undermines Third-Party Repair
A while back, retired journalist and octogenarian, Chris Biddle, had an excellent interview with author and digital rights activist Cory Doctorow about digital restrictions. They speak in particular about digital restrictions technologies which have been spread within agricultural equipment through the equipment's firmware. Their conversation starts out with mention of the use of network-connected firmware to brick the tractors which were looted from dealership sales lots in Ukraine by the invading Russian army. Cory gives a detailed overview of the issues hidden away by the mainstream press under the feel-good stories about the incident.
But was the bigger picture more worrying? I speak with Cory Doctorow, author, Guardian journalist with a special interest in protecting human rights in this digital age.
He says that whilst 'kill-switches' used to disable the machinery provide a security benefit, it is possible that widely available 'hacking' technology could also be used to disrupt the world's agricultural infrastructure by those with more sinister motives.
All of which feeds into the Right to Repair cases currently going through the US courts. It is also all about who owns the tractor, who owns data, and who owns the rights to the embedded software?
Deere contends that a customer can never fully own connected machinery because it holds exclusive rights to the software coding.
Some US farmers have attempted to unlock the embedded by purchasing illegal firmware –mostly developed by sophisticated hackers based in Ukraine!
The interview is just under 45 minutes.
Previously:
(2022) New York State Passes First Electronics Right-to-Repair Bill
(2022) John Deere Remotely Disables Farm Equipment Stolen by Russians from Ukraine Dealership
(2022) A Fight Over the Right to Repair Cars Turns Ugly
(2021) Apple and John Deere Shareholder Resolutions Demand They Explain Their Bad Repair Policies
(2021) The FTC is Investigating Why McDonald's McFlurry Machines are "Always Broken"
(2020) Europe Wants a 'Right to Repair' Smartphones and Gadgets
(2019)
New Elizabeth Warren Policy Supports "Right to Repair"
(2016) Sweden Wants to Fight Disposable Culture with Tax Breaks for Repairing Old Stuff
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Thursday September 16 2021, @01:53AM (7 children)
Politics are meaningless, when investors start pulling their investment money, and stocks fall.
Damn, this tickles me!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 16 2021, @02:25AM
I assume this is the result of a small % of investors making a stink. You hear about these kinds of shareholder resolutions every year or two.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday September 16 2021, @02:25AM (2 children)
Are these guys investors? They certainly aren't showing up as large investors (here [yahoo.com] or here [yahoo.com]).
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday September 16 2021, @04:07AM (1 child)
Good point, but, that may not matter. The political climate regarding Right to Repair is favorable. So, if one group of investors does some squawking, other investors are likely to jump onboard. Besides, just how many people or investment groups are required to dump your stocks, before prices go into a nosedive? I realize that neither Apple nor Deere are especially volatile, but if people start dumping, it can hurt them.
There are decision makers in both corporations who are sitting up and taking notice, at the very least.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday September 16 2021, @04:15AM
How often can you buy a stock at a premium and then dump it before you run out? I'm reminded of the quote, "the market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent." If repairable goods are that valuable, it'd be better to invest in businesses that make those rather than try to force some alleged dinosaurs to behave contrary to their interests.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 16 2021, @07:30AM
The trick is not to pull the investments but to have just a large enough part of the shares that you can keep dropping nasty questions at the shareholder meeting and then see how the larger shareholders get annoyed with the boards crappy answers on how this is not hurting the company in the longer term
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 16 2021, @12:40PM (1 child)
It's weird to state that politics is meaningless when you're commenting on a 100% political action. Are you saying the shareholders' actions are meaningless, or do you think that somehow this is not politics?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday September 16 2021, @02:09PM
I'm saying that on the political front, they are employing loybbyists in the capitols, as well as lawyers in the courts. Winning the battles on the political and legal fronts may not mean much, if investors are busy pulling money. Lawyers and politicians can't force people to invest in a company with crap social reputations.
(Score: 5, Informative) by legont on Thursday September 16 2021, @02:35AM (4 children)
Once upon a time I did a project for Deere. We converted all their old typesetting repair documentation into SGML so bright new word tools repair manuals could be created. Their manuals were excellent and I did a good job automating all this; in a few dozens languages mind you. They told me that the goal is that barely literate Chinese farmer could repair his tractor in the middle of nowhere. I was so prod.
It's sad to watch what all of it became.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Thursday September 16 2021, @03:21AM
Yeah, the PDF is a total fuckup for meaningful docs (grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Interesting) by RS3 on Thursday September 16 2021, @05:51AM
I've never used a Deere manual, but kudos and thank you! Oh wait, I did, an F525, and I remember it being awesome. Some repair manuals are amazingly well written. Maybe you made them too good, such that the MBA vultures swooped in? No worries- I'm fairly hopeful that the Right to Repair movement will gain momentum and Deere and Apple and others will be forced to play fair.
BTW, I assume you know about this:
https://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/john-deere-tractor-hacks-ukrainian/ [digitaltrends.com]
https://tractorhacking.github.io [github.io]
(Score: 5, Touché) by Beryllium Sphere (r) on Thursday September 16 2021, @05:52AM (1 child)
The essay "Empire of the Rising Scum" explains, quite plausibly, how any organization that stays in operation too long gets taken over by people whose talent is empire-building. Against them, the people who wanted Chinese farmers to repair their tractors had no chance.
(Score: 2) by bradley13 on Thursday September 16 2021, @02:17PM
Pournelle's Iron Law
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 2) by darkfeline on Thursday September 16 2021, @06:00AM (4 children)
Are the shareholders dumb? The reason companies do this is to make money and make the stock go up. If the current demand goes through, next the shareholders are going to be demanding to know why the stock price is dropping.
Hypothetically, the shareholders could be prioritizing "social good" over returns, but I also have a bridge to sell.
Another theory is that someone is playing stock market games and waiting for the dip. It won't go as well as Gamestop, but even a few percent is a lot when you're rich.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 16 2021, @06:22AM
Activist shareholders [wikipedia.org] are a thing. The goal was to get this story in the media, perhaps even shame the companies into changing their policies, even if it goes against their bottom line.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday September 16 2021, @02:06PM
The shareholders care about customers; without customers, there's no company. They're thinking about people like me, who refuse to buy anything from any company like that. I refuse to buy into evil.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 16 2021, @05:15PM
Those policies make money in the short term but will outright kill companies in the long term. Investors looking for long positions tend to hate that. The real stupidity is that the ones pushing hardest for short term gains at the expense of the long term are mutual funds and retirement funds, the very investors who benefit most from long term investment.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 17 2021, @10:33AM
Maybe they want the company to make money by selling a better product?
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Thursday September 16 2021, @06:52AM (3 children)
It's good for your bottom line.
Any other questions?
No?
Didn't think so.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 16 2021, @07:36AM (1 child)
Well, is it good for the bottom line? Maybe on the short term yes, but I'm not so sure for the longer term.
That may not be so relevant for investors in Apple but I expect that quite some shareholders at John Deere may be in it for the longer time.
(Score: 2) by Opportunist on Thursday September 16 2021, @07:57AM
Long term? Stocks are more hire and fire these days than employees, who cares what the share is worth tomorrow when I can cash in today?
Stocks as investment is so yesterday. And even if, just move to another company, it's not like you have to invest in Deere or Apple, there's plenty of fish in the sea and some of them will be here in decades. Of course, their short term revenue potential really sucks.
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday September 16 2021, @02:19PM
How is keeping me from buying your product good for your bottom line?
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 5, Insightful) by stormwyrm on Thursday September 16 2021, @07:39AM (4 children)
Numquam ponenda est pluralitas sine necessitate.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 16 2021, @12:30PM (2 children)
Interesting that you mention emissions with repair.
One of the fav arguments for preventing owner repair is that the result might violate some emissions standard.
Perhaps the first thing to do would be to make sure that the emissions rules don't make the right to repair worse.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 16 2021, @05:49PM (1 child)
The emissions standard objection is just an excuse, and if it didn't exist they'd pick something else. People who care about their equipment enough to want to learn how to fix it themselves tend to care about it enough to want to fix it properly. The other beneficiaries of Right to Repair are people who want to hire non-dealer service companies, who are held to the same regulations and certification requirements as the dealers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 16 2021, @09:05PM
It may just be an excuse but its an excuse that is being actively exploited by the EPA in litigation against individuals who build race cars. Not exactly right to repair, but rather right to modify. In the last few years the EPA has started to enforce rules that basically say any car with a VIN number or any engine that was in a car with a VIN cannot be modified in any way (since any performance modifications will change its emissions), regardless of their intended use as race-only vehicles.
The EPA is going after racers now but I guarantee it wont stop there. What if I have an old car from the 90's and the computer dies on it. The manufacturer doesn't make the computer anymore and say for sake of argument I can't find one at the local junk yard. It would be easy to find an aftermarket computer and replace the broken one but that is illegal according to the EPA. Even if you were to test the car and ensure its emissions are fine, the very act of replacing a part of the emission system with an aftermarket part is illegal as far as the EPA is concerned. And thats how this game goes. They shoehorn their way in with an angle not many people will fight (aftermarket racing components) and slowly metastasize to adjacent areas that will eventually effect you and me.
This was a long way of saying that you can ignore objections that seem arbitrary at your own peril. We need broad-scope right to repair laws or we will be doomed to subservience and a disposable lifestyle.
(Score: 2) by Rich on Friday September 17 2021, @12:08PM
Fun fact: Years ago, I bought a little English sports car that was re-imported to Germany from Italy. Italy was late with introducing catalysts, and must have some weird EU exemptions. The car was built in 1991 and had no cat when it went to Italy. Yet I got my German papers with a cat type class, because the local regulations didn't assume any car from 1991 could be without cat. I have actual paperwork that says "Typklasse 01, 3.5% CO" for the emissions test.
Anyway, because I wanted optimum mixture/economy, I had the oxygen sensor fitted (it was literally screw-in, plug-in, all the cables were laid) and replaced the ECU software with one that recognizes the oxygen sensor. The joys of pluggable EPROMs. And because I'm such a tree hugger, I also had an actual catalyst fitted as well. Cost me a few horse, and the neat exhaust note.
Most of the time you'll find it the other way 'round, though, and people replace the catalyst with a straight-thru pipe. Now if manufacturers actually were concerned about such stuff happening, they would have long chipped the cat.
(Score: 1, Disagree) by Username on Thursday September 16 2021, @08:09AM (4 children)
John Deere's big thing is being American Made. It's really hard to make a tractor in the United States now that most modes of manufacture were made illegal. Too dangerous you see. So there are very few places left willing to get fined every day just to make parts for peanuts. So they got paid more to cover the fines. Now tractors cost millions of dollars, and still don't make a profit. So they make it up with service fees. Now, how do you collect a service fee if people fix it themselves?
This obviously doesn't apply to Apple. Chinese made with American Made prices.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 16 2021, @03:25PM (3 children)
You're right about John Deere's chest-thumping patriotism, but they're not quite alone. Also, tractors don't cost millions of dollars, depending on your scale of activity. You can get something pretty competent for $50K, brand new.
The problem is that a farmer who can pay $50K might be very leery about having to put harvest on hold while John Deere sends out a technician for top dollar to do something that the previous generation of farmers would have done for themselves with a wrench and a welding torch in a third of the time. This means that even a shady chinese manufacturer selling an updated clone of a 1960s russian for $25K becomes very attractive, regardless of the price advantage because while the fuel consumption may be worse the actual on-the-ground utility is better where it counts. For very small (but often highly profitable) farmers such as market gardeners or cut flower specialists, something like a $20K investment in BCS walk-behind tractors and tools can be quite justifiable. Till four acres and seed them? A weekend's job with those.
And this is John Deere's problem, which is why the activist shareholders have a serious point, even if they are being gadflies. Maintainability is a deeply valuable thing, and that is becoming clearer every day. Apple and John Deere are hoping that the: "We don't sell tools, we sell SOLUTIONS!!!" mantra will save them, and it has worked out OK so far ... but won't forever.
(Score: 2) by dwilson on Thursday September 16 2021, @10:14PM (2 children)
Hey, farmer here. In the middle of harvest, actually. Currently have a down day due to rain, so I'm here to catch up on the soylentnews.
Quick rule of thumb for you: If the problem to be fixed involves a wrench and a welder, the farmer is already doing it himself, and the dealer technician never gets a phone call.
If, on the other hand, the problem involves a piece of technology that literally did not exist for the farm twenty or thirty years ago, (think automation, PLC's, computer control, sensors and wires and electronics, etc), then yeah, a wrench and a welder aren't going to fix it.
I'll grant you that modern equipment is a bit more complicated than Old Man Farmer is prepared to deal with. Young Man Farmer (ie, me) has a better time, and the dealer doesn't get a call unless there's a piece of black box technology I suspect is the culprit. Even then, I'll go pick it up and swap it myself unless I'm not absolutely sure enough to bet the multi-thousand dollar cost on it. If that's the case I'll call their head field mechanic and run it by him first, maybe get him out to have a look himself.
On the other hand yet again, Old Man Farmer is operating a powerful piece of modern agricultural equipment that, in addition to literally steering itself, includes a cab to keep the weather and dust off him, HVAC to keep him comfortable, an air-ride seat, a plethora of sensors and other automation to keep everything ticking away within optimal parameters, as well as warning him and shutting itself off when something is going wrong BEFORE it gets a chance to tear itself to pieces ... well, yeah. There's a cost involved in all that modern luxury. When the sealed black-box computery-module piles up, you call the dealer. Whether it's a cheap car built 2013, or the combine harvester built 2012.
In other words, and not to pick on you specifically, I see this meme pop up over and over (right to repair, modern ag equipment can't be fixed without the dealer, etc and so on), and it's ABUNDANTLY clear that most of the people with something to say on the subject have never, ever, gotten close to the equipment in question, or had any experience operating it or it's forebears.
I mean, I'm a linux user too. Imagine microsoft opening up windows to the level of control most linux distros offer the user. Now imagine how long before Joe Average completely stuffs up his desktop machine, requiring technical intervention. There's a reason moderately complicated computerstuff requires a competent repairman with the proper tools and equipment, and a reason a lot of it is locked down / black box / inner workings entirely hidden.
Farmers love to bitch and complain. I'd be thrilled if the dealer didn't charge so much for parts and service. Especially parts that I can get elsewhere for a third the price, and then install myself. Which really is most of them, in all honestly (the installing myself part, not necessarily the finding elsewhere part), contrary to the narrative being presented on the internet.
This idea that every little breakdown in the tractor or combine or seeder or whatever requires a mechanic or tech from the dealership to fix, is absolute rubbish, and always has been. Stop repeating it. The vast majority of failures do not.
...that was a bit of a rant. sorry.
I should add that we're mostly a Case IH shop here, the only John Deere's we have are three front-wheel assist tractors with front-end loaders. Maybe JD has been fucking people over to the degree everyone claims, and knowing the basics of how this equipment has to work to do the job it does, I really can't see how. I've got cousins who run all-JD, and they don't seem to think so, either.
- D
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 17 2021, @12:45AM
Farmer here too, actually. Not in the middle of harvest (not quite that kind of farm) but I've seen family members with the same kind of farming situation going back quite a while.
Anyway, there are quite a few concrete examples of things that have been pains in the rear for John Deere farmers that have come up. Case is actually one of the good guys (relatively speaking) on this front so I'm not surprised that it hasn't hit you. It hasn't hit me either because I was on the brink of buying John Deere when I stumbled across the problem in my research and started to dive in. (They're not the only sinner on this front, but they've been fairly well-publicised.) One example that has come up is sensors - anything that feeds back into the bus that runs the engine, whether it's hydraulic, or emissions or whatever, can break, and sensors frequently do. I've seen it on my own road vehicles as well as critters up to earthmoving machinery, and I'm sure you have too. It's not a tough fix (OK, granted, on a Jetta it was a pain to reach the damn oxygen sensor) but John Deere has pretty much tied it to authorised repairs only. That is a wrench fix - in fact, replacing the whole damn hydraulic pump is, or should be a wrench fix on most tractors, give or take some details on how the hose management is set up, but I'll count a philips-head screwdriver under wrench fixing here, too. But not on new John Deeres any more. Old ones, sure. New, not so much, because (and they admit this when you talk to a salesman, although they don't like it) you have to basically use a magic computer that only repairmen have, to re-register the bits and bobs with the engine management computer. That's the problem. I don't think anybody is claiming that you have to have a repairman change the teeth on a digging bucket.
Now I'm the first to agree that a lot of old equipment was damn dangerous, and I've nearly had a tractor roll over on me as well (fortunately I have a good seat-of-the-pants and quick driving reflexes) but that doesn't mean that a modern design can't be accessible or maintainable, and whiz-bang black boxes that turn into games of mother-may-I with the OEM aren't my idea of reliability.
Now I totally agree with you that, as you put it :
"This idea that every little breakdown in the tractor or combine or seeder or whatever requires a mechanic or tech from the dealership to fix, is absolute rubbish, and always has been." but that's not what I said, and not what I'm complaining about, and not why the whole situation bothered me enough to look for a different manufacturer. John Deere would love to sell me logging fixtures for their machines, and the machines to run the tools, but after a cold-eyed look at what might end up with me stuck in the woods with nothing happening while a logging truck idles I had to take a hard pass on it.
The thing about specialty farmers looking elsewhere is quiet serious, by the way. BCS and Grillo can hardly keep up with demand. Actually, scratch that, last I heard they can't keep up with demand. In my neck of the woods, small tractors that can slip in and out of tight quarters are a big deal, to the point that many serious operators have small fleets of basically amped-up lawn tractors and ATVs. John Deere's a big player there, but if those farmers can't get their head wrench to do it all, they'll be looking elsewhere. This isn't just me - I'm hearing the same thing at the Farm Bureau meetings too.
So, to clarify: the basic complaint is that John Deere is the only power on earth that can get things rolling again. The complaint is that even if you can get an aftermarket equivalent part and replace it yourself as per maintenance manual to the last detail, if it touches the electronic management it turns into a problem. Hydraulic fluid? No problem. Fuel injection management? Problem. And that's not cool.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 17 2021, @02:08AM
The question is more like, when something breaks, and you know that you can't fix it, do you have the option of calling a local tech who will work for $50/hr? Or, do you have to call the John Deere tech out for $125/hr?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 17 2021, @03:39PM
Why can't the industry seem to agree on a set of standard form factors for phones and tablets? It's because they want you to buy a new case for each upgrade.
These clowns don't care about the environment whatsoever. It's all just a bunch of baseless grandstanding.