Video download link | md5sum fbeac656a04b41f75a20a4ff1bce4a66 Russia and John Deere Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0



Summary: Vehicles with remote kill switches are being 'normalised' if not celebrated by the mainstream media, as if DRM is now something to be lauded in the context of war

THE DRM giants of the world -- like the surveillance sleazeballs -- love using Ukraine for PR stunts. Some profit a great deal from the war, even Musk's Twitter (he also profits from the war through satellite communication systems).

It truly bothers us and troubles us to see how the media was spinning DRM in tractors, portraying the whole thing as benign if not benevolent just because in one particular case -- involving a stock of tractors (not even so many of them!) -- it harmed Russia. As if Russia will turn back and end the war (a surrender by Putin is highly improbable because of his ego) -- all this because of some bricked tractors... one might argue that bricking them would generally contribute to more hunger if not famine, seeing the already-diminishing supplies of wheat and cooking oils (amongst other basic commodities).

"Had John Deere burned several fields with crops in them, would the media act all jubilant? Like Agent Orange in Vietnam?"The video above goes though many links that we've published in the latest Daily Links. They're shown one by one in the video above, which starts with a spontaneous explanation of what DRM means or does (to an ordinary person). In plain English (or layman's terms), DRM can only ever make things worse because it limits or destroys things. In this particular case, machines capable of helping to produce more food got destroyed. Had John Deere burned several fields with crops in them, would the media act all jubilant? Like Agent Orange in Vietnam?

Many more comments can be found here. It's a hot topic, and rightly so! Many issues at stake, the politics aside...

To quote: "Are there other examples like this justifying some sort of limited DRM? How prominent do you think this will be held up as an example in lobbying efforts to justify not passing "Right To Repair" laws?"

"It's a hot topic, and rightly so!"What has just happened is good for DRM proponents and lobbyists, never mind if it's bad for Russia. It is a slippery slope.

"DRM is unfortunately a perennial topic," an associate noted today, and "that's a recent example but care has to be taken so that [John Deere] cannot spin this as a good thing; two wrongs don't make a right [1, 2] ... CNN seems to have the first coverage of the [John Deere] DRM incidents [and] the takeaway is that DRM is no longer a theoretical threat it is now a matter of who is the target, and there can be multiple targets..." ⬆