FTC Probing John Deere Over Customers' 'Right To Repair' Equipment (reuters.com) 11
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is investigating farm equipment maker Deere over its repair policies, focusing on whether the company's restrictions on repairs violate customers' "right to repair." Reuters reports: The investigation, authorized on Sept. 2, 2021, focuses on repair restrictions manufacturers place on hardware or software, often referred to by regulators as impeding customers' "right to repair" the goods they purchase. The probe was made public through a filing by data analytics company Hargrove & Associates Inc, which sought to quash an FTC subpoena seeking market data submitted to it by members of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. Neither HAI nor AEM is a target of the FTC probe [...].
The FTC is probing whether Deere violated the Federal Trade Act's section 5, according to the filing. The law prohibits unfair or deceptive practices affecting commerce, and the FTC has recently used it in a broad array of cases, including against Amazon and pharmacy benefit managers.
The FTC is probing whether Deere violated the Federal Trade Act's section 5, according to the filing. The law prohibits unfair or deceptive practices affecting commerce, and the FTC has recently used it in a broad array of cases, including against Amazon and pharmacy benefit managers.
They keep buying (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
High-end farm gear is an ecosystem that you buy into and then add pieces to over time. You do not mix-n-match.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
sounds super shit. open ecosystem for farm equipment is a no brainer, the fact that it isn't sounds super toxic and in dire need of regulation.
Re: (Score:2)
Firstly all the other guys that make farm gear are also anti-right-to-repair (why do you think older easier-to-repair equipment is popular?) and secondly if you already own John Deere equipment, you aren't going to buy your new gear from a competitor.
Re: (Score:1)
Probing? (Score:2)
The only "probing" in this case should be the financial, legislative, and punitive equivalent of a studded dildo thrust repeatedly into an eliminatory orifice until the correct future course of action for John Deere becomes abundantly and painfully clear.
See (Score:4, Insightful)
This is what a functioning government looks like.
For all of the history... (Score:2)
...of everything ever made or manufactured, it has been mostly possible to repair given sufficient skill. Yeah, some things like broken glass can only be repaired poorly, but some sort of repair has always been possible. Also, almost everything was open source. Students could examine the work of masters to see how it was made.
Technology has now allowed evil corporate overlords to take away a right we have had for centuries. We're not asking for new rights, we're DEMANDING the return of rights we have always
How do they do it? (Score:2)
How exactly does the OEM stop customers from repairing the equipment? I think that's an important bit of info the summary leaves out.