I'm very glad to see farmers win the right to repair their tractors. It's a win for consumers against bogus #IP objections from manufacturers. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64206913
"#Deere abuses copyright law to force farmers to pay for official repairs — even when the farmer does the repair. That’s possible thx to a practice called VIN locking, in which engine parts come w #DRM that prevents the tractor from recognizing them until they pay hundreds of dollars for a John Deere technician to come to their farm & type an unlock code into the tractor’s console."
"Under the agreement, John #Deere promises to give farmers and independent repair shops access to manuals, diagnostics and parts. But there’s a catch – the agreement isn’t legally binding, and, as part of the deal, the influential #FarmBureau promised not to support any federal or state #RightToRepair legislation."
"We…publicly call on John Deere to immediately resolve all of its outstanding GPL violations…by providing complete source code…that the GPL & other copyleft licenses require, to the farmers & others who are entitled to it."