UPDATE: Commenting on this post on Facebook, Minnesota Farmers Union government affairs director Thom Petersen remarked, "Osmek basically removed farm equipment out in Committee last month." Lovely. The change has yet to appear in the versions list online. [end update]
An article in Motherboard, Tractor-Hacking Farmers Are Leading a Revolt Against Big Tech's Repair Monopolies, outlines a problem. Bipartisan legislation introduced last year in the Minnesota Senate and House provides the solution.
Motherboard's Jason Koebler reports:
Kyle Schwarting is a farmer by trade, and a hacker by necessity. His farm, about 20 minutes outside the city limits of Lincoln, Nebraska, is full of tractors and agricultural equipment, which he picks up in various states of repair from fellow farmers, fixes up, and resells.
“I would say what I’m doing is hacking,” Schwarting tells me, gesturing to a Windows laptop and a USB-to-tractor cable he Frankensteined himself.
The plan is to hook the laptop up to a gigantic John Deere combine, which, like all farm equipment, has become increasingly difficult to repair as companies have introduced new sensors and software into nearly every component. Schwarting has found a hacked version of John Deere’s Service Advisor software on a torrent site, which he can use to diagnose problems with the equipment and ultimately repair it. Without this software, even minor repairs will cost him thousands of dollars from a licensed John Deere repair person and more importantly, time.
“To get it on a truck is $1,000, and by the time you get it hauled somewhere and hauled back, you’re $2,000 into getting something minor fixed,” he said. “You have a real small window to get [a harvest] done in the year, and the tractor broke down. I had to find the software to be able to repair my tractor and make my customer happy and make a living.”
John Deere, Apple, Microsoft, Samsung, AT&T, Tesla, and the vast majority of big tech firms have spent the last decade monopolizing repair: “Authorized service providers” who pay money to these companies and the companies themselves are the only ones who have access to replacement parts, tools, and service manuals to fix broken machines; they are also the only ones who have software that can circumvent encryption locks that artificially prevent people like Schwarting from working on equipment. So people like Schwarting find enterprising ways around these locks by finding unauthorized versions of software or by hacking through firmware altogether.
But what started as hacking out of necessity has quickly transformed into a bonafide political movement.
Schwarting and other farmers across the country have found themselves on the front lines of the right to repair movement, the biggest people-versus-big-tech revolt in in recent memory. The goal of this movement is to ultimately get a law passed that will allow farmers, independent repair people, and average consumers to take back ownership of their tractors, their tablets, their cell phones, their air conditioners.
In Minnesota, the proposed language in SF15(Chief author ultra-conservative Republican Dave Osmek, with uber-progressive DFLer John Marty and genial Republican Eric Pratt as co-sponsors) and HF287 (chief author Jerry Hertaus, with DFL former speaker Paul Thissen and tax chair Greg Davids among others). The bills were introduced early last session but languish in each body's commerce committees.
A former suburban legislator brought a website for Minnesota Right to Repair's website to our attention. It's not just John Deere being called out but Apple as well. Here's the text asking visitors to act:
Dear Minnesotans,
It's time to speak out for your right to repair
Minnesota has a chance to become the first state in the nation to pass “Fair Repair” legislation. The Fair Repair bill guarantees our right to repair digital equipment like computers, refrigerators, cell phones and tractors. It requires manufacturers to provide owners and independent repair shops with access to repair information and replacement parts—so you have the resources you need to fix things quickly and affordably.
But we need your help. Manufacturers don’t want a Fair Repair bill. When your tractor breaks or your cell phone stops working, they want to be the only people who can fix it. And they get to set whatever prices they want.
Find out who represents you in Minnesota’s state legislature. Tell them that you want the right to repair your products. Tell them you support the Fair Repair bills. Tell them repair is good for the environment, good for consumers, and good for businesses.
The Motherboard article reports that two farm equipment trade associations are sorta supportive of change:
Big tech is legitimately scared that a state may pass a fair repair bill. Lobbyists from every major big tech trade organization have shown up at state hearings on the issue and have written PDF info sheets for lawmakers designed to incite fear; lobbyists from individual companies like Apple have shown up in the offices of lawmakers who support and introduce these bills, but rarely show up at the hearings themselves because they know the legislation is popular with the masses.
“The more obviously they’re arguing for their vested financial interests versus something people care about, the harder that lobbying becomes,” Nathan Proctor, director of the US PIRG’s right to repair campaign told me, referring to individual company lobbying tactics. “It’s basic strategy to send a trade group instead. They don’t want to hurt their brand so they want their way without having to pay the consequences of doing something that hurts consumers.”
The agriculture industry, as least is feeling the pressure. Earlier this month, the Association of Equipment Manufacturers and the Equipment Dealers Association—two farming industry trade groups that represent John Deere and other giants in the space—announced that its manufacturers and dealers support “commonsense repair solutions” and will voluntarily provide some of the requirements outlined in fair repair legislation.
Let's see if those solutions can get a legal footing in Minnesota statute or are just talking points. After all, it's not often that senators Osmek and Marty come together on anything, so perhaps the lobbyists won't stand in the way here.
Campaign money may end up being a factor here. We've written recently about how one large Deere dealer network in Minnesota, operated by Fargo potato giant RDO, is deeply involved in campaign finance in the state. In Anti-vaxxer moneypot Jennifer Larson is Republican Party of Minnesota finance chair we also noticed:
Also of interest, though related to the ongoing saga of R.D. Offutt money and influence in Minnesota politics and policy making:
Please also join me in welcoming Adam Gilbertson. Adam currently serves at the Deputy Chair for the Minnesota 2nd Congressional District Republican Party. He was also a national delegate to the 2016 RNC in Cleveland and is a veteran of the Iraq war serving for nine-years in the US Army. Adam currently works as a General Manager for a large John Deere dealer network focused on machine guidance technology and the integration of drone technology in construction. He is a resident of Lakeville with his wife Sarah and their 6 year old son Henry.
In his new role as Deputy Finance Chair, Adam will be responsible for supporting the strategic fundraising efforts of the state party and opening up new sources of contributions to ensure a strong and successful party.
That "large John Deere dealer network" would be our old friends at R.D.Offutt, the North Dakota potato and network of John Deere dealers.
Photo: Via Motherboard, a tractor hacker. Nothing runs like a Deere, and many farmers can repair their own equipment. If they dare. Photo by Jason Koebler.
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