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from the take-a-little-ride-on-the-old-John-Deere dept.
An article about how the Russian military stole farm equipment from a John Deere dealership in the Ukraine, only to find it all remotely disabled when trying to use/sell it on the other side:
Russian troops in the occupied city of Melitopol have stolen all the equipment from a farm equipment dealership -- and shipped it to Chechnya, according to a Ukrainian businessman in the area.
But after a journey of more than 700 miles, the thieves were unable to use any of the equipment -- because it had been locked remotely.
Over the past few weeks there's been a growing number of reports of Russian troops stealing farm equipment, grain and even building materials - beyond widespread looting of residences. But the removal of valuable agricultural equipment from a John Deere dealership in Melitopol speaks to an increasingly organized operation, one that even uses Russian military transport as part of the heist.
[...] Other sources in the Melitopol region say theft by Russian military units has extended to grain held in silos, in a region that produces hundreds of thousands of tonnes of crops a year.
Are there other examples like this justifying some sort of limited DRM? How prominent do you think this will be held up as an example in lobbying efforts to justify not passing "Right To Repair" laws?
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday May 03 2022, @03:32PM (3 children)
DRM being a tool I don't really feel one way or the other about it directly.
Like most tools sometimes they can be dangerous and with the universal constant of assholes ruining everything nice for everyone; sometimes they need regulation.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by mcgrew on Tuesday May 03 2022, @06:40PM (2 children)
The only one I want in charge or control of any of my tools is ME. If I cut myself with my own knife, it's my own fault unless the knife was deliberately engineered to cut its owner because its manufacturer wanted him cut.
The hard drive manufacturers are doing the same thing. All of a sudden I couldn't connect a new computer to my Seagate 4TB network drive, which is now a "media streaming device" and not a network drive. I found googling for a fix that it had been done deliberately by Seagate last summer. I suspect that when the Western Digital died, that may have been at the behest of the manufacturer, as well.
This shit should be a prison time felony.
mcgrewbooks.com mcgrew.info nooze.org
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Tuesday May 03 2022, @06:48PM
We would need the will as a nation to pass the regulation required to throw people in jail over this.
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday May 03 2022, @06:48PM
Well, there can be a helpful middle ground [reviewgeek.com].