Associated Press: 11 states consider ‘right to repair’ for farming equipment. “[Danny] Wood’s plight, echoed by farmers across the country, has pushed lawmakers in Colorado and 10 other states to introduce bills that would force manufacturers to provide the tools, software, parts and manuals needed for farmers to do their own repairs — thereby avoiding steep labor costs and delays that imperil profits.”
BBC: US farmers win right to repair John Deere equipment. “Tractor maker John Deere has agreed to give its US customers the right to fix their own equipment. Previously, farmers were only allowed to use authorised parts and service facilities rather than cheaper independent repair options. Deere and Co. is one of the world’s largest makers farming equipment.”
WIRED: A New Jailbreak for John Deere Tractors Rides the Right-to-Repair Wave. “At the DefCon security conference in Las Vegas on Saturday, the hacker known as Sick Codes is presenting a new jailbreak for John Deere & Co. tractors that allows him to take control of multiple models through their touchscreens.”
Farmers Weekly: Thieves monitoring social media to target farm machinery. “Criminal gangs are monitoring social media posts by farmers to create ‘shopping lists’ of tractors and quad bikes they then steal from farms. Thieves are using the social media profiles to pinpoint farms where desirable machinery is kept before carrying out raids. Offenders are also joining or ‘liking’ farming Facebook pages, including community groups, rural watch groups, and police liaison groups to stay one step ahead of farmers trying to prevent criminal activity.”
Motherboard: Bugs Allowed Hackers to Dox John Deere Tractor Owners. “A pair of bugs in John Deere’s apps and website could have allowed hackers to find and download the personal data of all owners of the company’s farming vehicles and equipment, according to a security researcher who found the vulnerabilities.”
The ResearchBuzz Firehose is regular RB content presented as individual posts.
For digest-type posts a couple of times a day, please visit ResearchBuzz.
Want to know how to best use the Firehose for content discovery?
Check out this handy article.