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John Deere 'Kill Switch' renders stolen tractors useless (2022)

orchardandvine.net

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Re: John Deere 'Kill Switch' renders stolen tractors useless (2022)

#11

Post by aikinai »

8organicbits wrote: post #9
olliej wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Activation lock for phones was demonstrably effective at reducing theft of the products it was applied to, so _if_ theft of tractors is an issue this seems like a good thing, _if_ JD is also willing to commit to/legally required to maintain the activation service.

I thought phone theft was still fairly common, although I have a hard time understanding how it's profitable. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/04/bathroom-tunneling-b...

Those are new in-box unactivated phones, completely unrelated to personal theft and activation lock.

Re: John Deere 'Kill Switch' renders stolen tractors useless (2022)

#12

Post by 14 »

8organicbits wrote: post #9
olliej wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Activation lock for phones was demonstrably effective at reducing theft of the products it was applied to, so _if_ theft of tractors is an issue this seems like a good thing, _if_ JD is also willing to commit to/legally required to maintain the activation service.

I thought phone theft was still fairly common, although I have a hard time understanding how it's profitable. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/04/bathroom-tunneling-b...

If you look at the cost of a new screen or battery you can see that parts do have some value. For a thief even $50 is a score.

Re: John Deere 'Kill Switch' renders stolen tractors useless (2022)

#13

Post by skywal_l »

Gigachad wrote: post #3

Tbh this seems not that problematic. I get that there is a lot of distasteful stuff going on around John Deere, but I think it's useful to see this on it's own which is a useful feature. Account locks have done a huge amount to reduce phone theft, a tractor is 100x more expensive.

It's a nice PR action for John Deere. Now US farmers know that if Russia invade the US, JD will have their back. But barring a russian invasion, how many tractors are being stolen in the US every year? I don't think this is a real problem.

And we are talking about a state actor here. I am sure that Russia can find a way to bypass the lock and if not, as mentioned in the article, they will sell the parts.

However, if I was a farmer, I wouldn't want JD to have that level of control on my property. I would want JD to handle that control to me, ideally under the form of public and documented API and free software.

Re: John Deere 'Kill Switch' renders stolen tractors useless (2022)

#14

Post by eimrine »

olliej wrote: post #4

Activation lock is an excellent and super effective mechanism for theft prevention so this seems like a good thing, but it also makes me curious about how common theft of high end tractors is?

Activation lock may the that excellent if the buyer would have a choice to buy it or not going to risk having an unactivated tractor.

Re: John Deere 'Kill Switch' renders stolen tractors useless (2022)

#15

Post by Xylakant »

aikinai wrote: post #11
8organicbits wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought phone theft was still fairly common, although I have a hard time understanding how it's profitable. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/04/bathroom-tunneling-b...

Those are new in-box unactivated phones, completely unrelated to personal theft and activation lock.

It’s not related to personal theft, but to activation lock. Apple can (and will) lock these phones as well.

Re: John Deere 'Kill Switch' renders stolen tractors useless (2022)

#16

Post by gommm »

olliej wrote: post #5
francoisdevlin wrote: post #2

That's a nice tractor you've got there. It'd be a shame if something happened to it. Can I interest you in some protection... Err, 3 year service plan?

Activation lock for phones was demonstrably effective at reducing theft of the products it was applied to, so _if_ theft of tractors is an issue this seems like a good thing, _if_ JD is also willing to commit to/legally required to maintain the activation service.

My phone (a samsung s21 ultra) was snatched from my hand while I was using it to check google maps in Barcelona. I tried to remote wipe it 5 minutes later at my hotel but it had already been disconnected. So the thief was very quick at removing the sim card.

I checked online since and it seems that even with the advent activation lock, there's still a lot of phone thefts in some countries. They just sell the spare parts and can make 100 to 200 euros between the screen and battery.

I'd imagine with John Deere tractors, there's quite a few parts that could be resold so an activation lock wouldn't necessarily reduce the value by that much.

Re: John Deere 'Kill Switch' renders stolen tractors useless (2022)

#17

Post by zdragnar »

olliej wrote: post #4

Activation lock is an excellent and super effective mechanism for theft prevention so this seems like a good thing, but it also makes me curious about how common theft of high end tractors is?

A quick google search shows claims of 1000 / month for heavy ag equipment, with under 20% recovery rate.

A remote kill switch seems like a useful bit of kit if it's not easily disabled and doesn't interfere with normal operations.

Re: John Deere 'Kill Switch' renders stolen tractors useless (2022)

#18

Post by aikinai »

Xylakant wrote: post #15
aikinai wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are new in-box unactivated phones, completely unrelated to personal theft and activation lock.

It’s not related to personal theft, but to activation lock. Apple can (and will) lock these phones as well.

Oh yeah, good point. I can’t imagine how that’s worth it then…

Re: John Deere 'Kill Switch' renders stolen tractors useless (2022)

#19

Post by tommica »

gommm wrote: post #16
olliej wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Activation lock for phones was demonstrably effective at reducing theft of the products it was applied to, so _if_ theft of tractors is an issue this seems like a good thing, _if_ JD is also willing to commit to/legally required to maintain the activation service.

My phone (a samsung s21 ultra) was snatched from my hand while I was using it to check google maps in Barcelona. I tried to remote wipe it 5 minutes later at my hotel but it had already been disconnected. So the thief was very quick at removing the sim card. I checked online since and it seems that even with the advent activation lock, there's still a lot of phone thefts in some countries. They just sell the spare pa…

Damn, stolen while using it, that is quite brazen :(

Re: John Deere 'Kill Switch' renders stolen tractors useless (2022)

#20

Post by unglaublich »

This is the different sign of the same coin.

Not you, but JD controls the kill-switch.

They can disable a device to render it useless whenever something happens that they don't like.

Whether it's theft or violation of your leasing terms.

If the owner was in control of the kill-switch, it would still have all benefits of theft protection, without the problems that arise with a manufacturer controlling devices indefinitely.

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