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1. Noam Preil (pixelherodev@fosstodon.org)'s status on Tuesday, 05-Jul-2022 09:46:53 UTC Noam Preil

   https://doctorow.medium.com/about-those-kill-switched-ukrainian-tractors-bc93f471b9c8

   This is important. Very, *very* important.

   Like, "human extinction"-level important.

   > John Deere’s decision to build ag-tech that can be remotely controlled [and] disabled, along with its [total monopoly], means that anyone who compromises its system puts the world’s food-supply at risk.

   > John Deere has extraordinarily terrible information security.

   This is great. So, so great.

   • Noam Preil (pixelherodev@fosstodon.org)'s status on Tuesday, 05-Jul-2022 09:46:46 UTC Noam Preil

     in reply to

     • an ephemeral fille

     @minervissa The issue is that their tractors are, themselves, an attack vector. By design.

     Because they want to be able to exploit the people they're selling to.

     This isn't a mistake on their part, or them not realizing the consequences of their actions. This is a deliberate act of *evil* for profit.

     Profit isn't inherently evil, but there's something about doing evil *for the sake* of profit that makes it even worse.

     Santa Claes 🇸🇪🇭🇰🎅 likes this.
   • an ephemeral fille (minervissa@cybre.space)'s status on Tuesday, 05-Jul-2022 09:46:52 UTC an ephemeral fille

     in reply to

     @pixelherodev John Deere should stick to tractors; if they want to do IT, they should make another branch and give it some nerdy name and sell the internet tractor stuff as add-ons.

   • Noam Preil (pixelherodev@fosstodon.org)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Jul-2022 00:12:09 UTC Noam Preil

     in reply to

     • StroomAfwaarts

     @StroomAfwaarts Sure - as I've said elsewhere, I'm skeptical of the idea that human extinction is likely to occur within the next century.

     But even if, say, 50% of the global food supply goes away, that's still a *huge problem* for a *lot* of people, even before factoring in the knock-on effects on transportation and imports/exports.

     It *is* a threat to billions of people, but not the species. I think that justifies calling it an extinction-level threat, but that's inherently subjective.

     Santa Claes 🇸🇪🇭🇰🎅 likes this.
   • StroomAfwaarts (stroomafwaarts@todon.nl)'s status on Wednesday, 06-Jul-2022 00:12:10 UTC StroomAfwaarts

     in reply to

     @pixelherodev in the village where I farm, only one or two farmers have john deere equipment, and the rest of them use five or six other brands.

     We even use two 50+ years old tractors ourselves.

     We can even use a neighbour's tractor if our own is inside for maintenance.

     It's probably different in big monoculture countries, but a bricked tractor in my part of the world (.nl) isn't going to cause food shortage.

     I don't want to well-actually Cory, but I think there's no need to despair. 🌱