Why American Farmers Are Hacking Their Tractors With Ukrainian Firmware
DRM working as expected:
To avoid the draconian locks that John Deere puts on the tractors they buy, farmers throughout America’s heartland have started hacking their equipment with firmware that’s cracked in Eastern Europe and traded on invite-only, paid online forums. Tractor hacking is growing increasingly popular because John Deere and other manufacturers have made it impossible to perform “unauthorized” repair on farm equipment, which farmers see as an attack on their sovereignty and quite possibly an existential threat to their livelihood if their tractor breaks at an inopportune time.
(via etienneshrdlu)(tags: hacking farming drm john-deere tractors firmware right-to-repair repair)