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Fuck ownership, you have only implied license to operate your dick
  • In a particularly spectacular display of corporate delusion, John Deere—the world’s largest agricultural machinery maker —told the Copyright Office that farmers don’t own their tractors. Because computer code snakes through the DNA of modern tractors, farmers receive “an implied license for the life of the vehicle to operate the vehicle.”

    Several manufacturers recently submitted similar comments to the Copyright Office under an inquiry into the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

    http://www.wired.com/2015/04/dmca-ownership-john-deere/

    http://www.agweb.com/blog/janzen-ag-law-blog/does-john-deere-really-own-your-tractor/

  • 41 Replies sorted by
  • Perhaps this is yet another reason not to use penile implants. No doubt you will lose sovereignty of your junk.

  • I'd love to interview a couple dozen farmers who own JD's to give their opinion about who owns their tractor. That would make for great watching.

  • Also interview them about who own the seeds they use, as Monsanto also has very interesting terms.

  • Maybe we simply need to re-educate ourselves on the concept of ownership. Maybe nothing is really owned by anyone. We can't take things with us when we die- so ownership should reflect this. Leasing/borrowing is closer to reality. I don't think we ever have owned anything really- and now companies are breaking truth to us. This is the real world Neo.

  • Maybe we simply need to re-educate ourselves on the concept of ownership. Maybe nothing is really owned by anyone. We can't take things with us when we die- so ownership should reflect this.

    Yep, everything we own is just temporary rented :-) Btw, this also show why organizations have so much power compared to small entries as individuals or families. As they are able accumulate resources for long time.

    But it does not change the fact that this motherfuckers just want your money (and as much as they can get).

  • Agreed VK. Problem is not that they move to license/outright buy- problem is that they ask for too much cash.

    People want/need cash in 2015. Advertising- buzz- excitement- all out the window: cash is king.

  • I would probably change all the logos on my JD to Case or New Holland on the first day of ownership.

  • I would probably change all the logos on my JD to Case or New Holland on the first day of ownership

    Do not worry, JD drone will spot your extremist activities and you will be prosecuted :-)

  • Solutions?

  • Not to appear too cynical but I think we are so far beyond the point of any sollutions, we might as well come to terms with who's really running the world, and the simple answer is follow the money!!

  • And this is yet another reason why "IP" is just a stack of so much nonsense.

  • And this is yet another reason why "IP" is just a stack of so much nonsense.

    I'll make some posts soon not related to cameras about IP and copies :-)

    It will be much more easy to understand that happens if you just think that copyright laws and patent laws had been written by ruling class to defend their interests. And as you start to hear about poor inventor or guy with guitar being ripped - slap yourself on the face to wake up.

  • So, present situation.

    For 3 years farmers could repair their tractors. But only themselves, any intervention by anyone else, even their neighbor, will be considered criminal offense.

  • Sounds like a good story line for a film. Doc would be more powerful than narrative. Farmer gets his tractor fixed somewhere else, the sheriff's deputy arrives to arrest him and all hell breaks loose.

  • Development of same story.

    Now farmers and owners of this JD shit buy hacked firmware for their stuff that allows to bypass restrictions as well as tune main parameters.

  • @Vitaliy_Kiselev - Not really a surprising outcome. Much like the GH1 and GH2, these companies think no one will be able to open up their software--so they are slow to push out useful updates and further development. Then the users take control and improve things. ...Of course eventually, the manufacturers just encrypt the firmware.

    Do you have a link to the article about farmers hacking their firmware? Very interesting to me. Believe it or not, we have a farm that's been in our family for 100+ years.

  • Seems like there should be a lively trade in aftermarket dumb systems, such as distributors and points. Trust me, I will never drive a smart car or have a smart appliance in my house. But the general public is so entranced by the Internet that they will buy anything to keep from looking backward.

  • Capitalistic expropriation of means of production....

  • @Vitaliy_Kiselev - Thanks for the article. It's a good one. There's a lot to this issue. JD is creating a situation where farmers can either pay exorbitant prices for official service or get software from unknown sources--which is potentially as bad for their gear as the fears people have about JD. It opens an opportunity for malicious code to get into a lot of tractors.

    Farmers are generally Fix-it-yourself types anyway and hate being told that they have to pay someone for a part they can simply repair. Right now farmers are getting so squeezed with low commodity prices that they are barely making it.

    Of course, the next generation of the software will just get smarter and check for a license once a month like Adobe -- and not start without it.

  • @DouglasHorn depends on the farmer.. My extended family owns much farmland where I live, and they don't touch any tractor. I think the local farming supply company provides equipment, and some hired hands drive the equipment from field to field.

  • @robertGL - Sure. I just meant in general.

  • This is where copyright shit leads

  • Piracy is exactly where this leads. Of course , the vast majority of patent owners never owned their own patents. Most patents are granted to institutions, either corporate or educational. Corporate makes every worker developing new tech sign an nda renouncing any claims to ownership, and educational institutions , while more generous in sharing any profits with inventors, have intellectual property agreements that progressively give all ownership eventually to the institution. They make certain the bottom line has their name, not the inventor. But the most important feature of intellectual property is that it only works inside the 5 eyes empire. Anyone who torrents films knows most countries are completely safe from copyright claims. Of course Russia and China have their own types of control which sometime align and sometimes contradict the 5 eyes empire. Back to tractors...I grew up riding john deere tractors. A tractor was so simple even dustbowl farmers could repair them...most of the time with baling wire. I'd wager these days 98% of american farmers are incapable of repairing anything to do with computerized ignition anyway. And surely there's options other than john deere that manufacture simple tractors like the good ole days. Let the buying power talk with their wallets. Just the same way many of us have switched to other operating systems rather than apple. If apple hadn't of produced the iphone, they'd be back in 1997. Unless of course, someone really wants a $50,000 computer. People can screw john deere( and apple) and the totalitarian regime they belong to, by simply denying their support. Of course most slaves become so because it's more convenient. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Tractor_manufacturers_of_the_United_States