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Why American Farmers Are Hacking Their Tractors With Ukrainian Firmware
Motherboard ^ | 3/21/17 | JASON KOEBLER

Posted on 03/22/2017 1:08:15 PM PDT by Rebelbase

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.

"When crunch time comes and we break down, chances are we don't have time to wait for a dealership employee to show up and fix it," Danny Kluthe, a hog farmer in Nebraska, told his state legislature earlier this month. "Most all the new equipment [requires] a download [to fix]."

(Excerpt) Read more at motherboard.vice.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: agriculture; automotive; farm; farms; johndeere; tractors
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To: George from New England

Mutual Funds

Major Shareholders DE
FundsInstitutions
Name Shares
Held % Total
Shares Held Shares
Change % Chg from
Prior Port % Total
Assets Date of
Portfolio Star Rating
Vanguard Total Stock Mkt Idx 6,541,327 2.06 80,851 1.25 0.13 02/28/2017
Franklin Income A 5,964,691 1.87 -2,535,309 -29.83 0.76 12/31/2016
Vanguard 500 Index Inv 4,339,518 1.36 49,672 1.16 0.15 02/28/2017
First Eagle Global A 4,423,114 1.39 0 0 0.91 01/31/2017
SPDR® S&P 500 ETF 3,414,383 1.07 7,820 0.23 0.16 03/21/2017
Vanguard Institutional Index I 3,186,401 1.00 14,246 0.45 0.16 02/28/2017
Vanguard PRIMECAP Inv 3,015,200 0.95 0 0 0.64 12/31/2016
VA CollegeAmerica Fundamental Invs 529E 3,000,000 0.94 0 0 0.40 12/31/2016
Industrial Select Sector SPDR® ETF 1,660,254 0.52 15,500 0.94 1.69 03/21/2017
Fidelity Spartan® 500 Index Inv 1,635,433 0.51 3,892 0.24 0.16 01/31/2017
VA CollegeAmerica Amercn Bal 529E 1,600,000 0.50 0 0 0.17 12/31/2016
Vanguard Value Index Inv 1,475,844 0.46 36,285 2.52 0.29 02/28/2017
Loomis Sayles Growth Y 1,201,424 0.38 13,275 1.12 2.60 01/31/2017
Principal Equity Income A 1,068,944 0.34 -28,142 -2.57 1.94 01/31/2017
Oppenheimer Main Street A 1,005,020 0.32 0 0 1.33 01/31/2017
PRIMECAP Odyssey Stock 1,033,019 0.32 0 0 1.74 12/31/2016
Fidelity® Balanced 828,500 0.26 -57,100 -6.45 0.31 01/31/2017
Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF 785,648 0.25 6,181 0.79 0.35 02/28/2017
Fidelity® Contrafund® 796,200 0.25 484,300 155.27 0.08 01/31/2017
iShares Russell 1000 Value 768,059 0.24 -1,573 -0.20 0.23 03/20/2017


21 posted on 03/22/2017 1:27:05 PM PDT by bert (K.E.; N.P.; GOPc;WASP .... Hillary is Ameritrash, pass it on)
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To: Rebelbase

Explains why you never see any big tractors mowing down zombies in the apocalyptic TV and Movie shows.


22 posted on 03/22/2017 1:27:42 PM PDT by shotgun
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To: bar sin·is·ter

When I was there Koreans had even smaller tractors to work the rice fields. Bet that’s not true anymore.


23 posted on 03/22/2017 1:29:24 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You cannot invade the mainland US. There'd be a rifle behind every blade of grass.)
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To: AppyPappy

Programmable ECU tuning has bee around on cars for a long time, I’m way past college age and have a Cobb unit on my Subaru turbo, five settings from no boost to requiring racing gas, just set back to factory and remove the module when warranty work rolls around.


24 posted on 03/22/2017 1:30:31 PM PDT by RegulatorCountry
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Yup, AC were the best tractors made. I had a old WD-45 that would pull a 3 bottom plow through cement.


25 posted on 03/22/2017 1:30:48 PM PDT by Beagle8U (Long live Yoga Pants! ( and boycott 84 lumber. Let's bankrupt the bastards!))
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Trying to fix it yourself invalidates any warranties.


26 posted on 03/22/2017 1:31:37 PM PDT by EQAndyBuzz (Nuke Bilderberg from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.)
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To: MeganC

One technicality in this set-up is that these implements have become so expensive that many farmers literally NEVER actually OWN these things any more. They lease them. The lease contract probably contains stipulations that ALL repairs MUST be done by a qualified technician from the implement company, which the lessee signs. This is not your old “H” or “M” Farmall any more.


27 posted on 03/22/2017 1:33:14 PM PDT by Tucker39 (In giving us The Christ, God gave us the ONE thing we desperately NEEDED; a Savior.)
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To: RegulatorCountry

Mercedes Sprinter cultist’s have ways to screw around with the ECM to induce desired change


28 posted on 03/22/2017 1:34:49 PM PDT by bert (K.E.; N.P.; GOPc;WASP .... Hillary is Ameritrash, pass it on)
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To: Rebelbase

They do not have the right to this.


29 posted on 03/22/2017 1:36:50 PM PDT by Vendome (I've Gotta Be Me - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH-pk2vZG2M)
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To: Rebelbase
There are all sorts of ads for computer diag for agricultural equipment at the articles site. Ha!
JD is fighting a losing battle.
30 posted on 03/22/2017 1:38:03 PM PDT by right way right (May we remain sober over mere men, for God really is our one and only true hope.)
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To: Rebelbase

Ukraine has hackers? Maybe they hacked the election. But for the wrong candidate.


31 posted on 03/22/2017 1:38:14 PM PDT by McGruff (#PlugTheLeaks)
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To: AppyPappy

“College kids do this to their cars to enhance performance.”


These days you can buy off the shelf “tunes” for anything from a $20k VW GTI to a $160 Audi R8. It’s big business.


32 posted on 03/22/2017 1:38:27 PM PDT by ConservativeWarrior (Fall down 7 times, stand up 8. - Japanese proverb)
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To: bar sin·is·ter

While on leave in Japan in 1960, travelling by train from Hokkaido to Kyushu and back, I saw scenes like this. But the little tractorette being used was a certain shade of orange. Who could have foreseen at that time, what would become of Kubota?


33 posted on 03/22/2017 1:38:54 PM PDT by Tucker39 (In giving us The Christ, God gave us the ONE thing we desperately NEEDED; a Savior.)
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To: Rebelbase

THAT is some Bull$h!t right there.


34 posted on 03/22/2017 1:39:30 PM PDT by 12th_Monkey (MAGA starting 1/20/2017)
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To: Rebelbase
That was a very interesting article.

It doesn't take long for the cancer of Communism/Fascism to spread completely to the crony capitalist monopolies, and used-to-be Communist Soviet states are leading the fight for freedom and property rights.

Who woulda thunk it?

35 posted on 03/22/2017 1:44:56 PM PDT by Navy Patriot (America returns to the Rule of Law)
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To: Rebelbase

bookmark


36 posted on 03/22/2017 1:45:11 PM PDT by dadfly
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To: Beagle8U

“Yup, AC were the best tractors made.”

There used to be a lot of brand loyalty between farmers and their tractors. Think International Harvester, Case, Oliver, Massey Ferguson, Minneapolis Moline, and Ford.

No more. Tractors became just another product line for the MBAs.

I drive a Cub Cadet from the early 80’s. It has the IH badge.


37 posted on 03/22/2017 1:45:37 PM PDT by alternatives? (Why have an army if there are no borders?)
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To: Rebelbase

Advise to Case International. Allow farmers to wrench on their own equipment and put JD ag out of business overnight.


38 posted on 03/22/2017 1:46:01 PM PDT by CodeJockey
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To: Rebelbase

These new smartasses at John Deere are destroying all the loyalty the company has built over the last century. I know a lot of guys who are true John Deere loyalists. They grew up with Deere tractors, have never owned anything but a Deere tractor, hell, they just about bleed John Deere green if you cut them. They have little models of John Deere tractors all over their homes and John Deere books on their shelves. My best friend owns seven John Deere tractors, one of them from the 1930s.

Something has happened. The people calling the shots now at John Deere don’t seem to give a damn about any of that. They want as much money as they can get right now and everything else can go hang. They’re actually willing to cause financial harm to their customers if it will put another hundred dollars in their pocket. “Oh, you can pay us $130,000 for a tractor but, guess what? As far as we’re concerned you will never actually own it! What’s that? Your starter has gone out? Pay us to come fix it. Or sit there and watch your crop rot. Either way is fine with us.”

John Deere has been infected and if it doesn’t get cured it will end up as just another company that went the way of the dodo.


39 posted on 03/22/2017 1:50:23 PM PDT by servo1969
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To: Rebelbase

It may be more simply said that actually done, but don’t but John Deere equipment.


40 posted on 03/22/2017 1:51:56 PM PDT by llevrok (A group of baboons is called a "congress." Just sayin' .....)
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