Chris Berube

And the thing with all of these smart devices is that it makes it a lot easier for a company that makes this device to lock you in.

Right.

So the first step into gentrification, it's locking you in because if something is a smart device, the manufacturer has quite a bit of leeway.

Let's go back to tractors where we started this whole episode.

Cory Doctorow says they are a prime example of this.

According to Jared, you know, back in the 90s, the tractor is mostly mechanical, right?

And if you wanted to replace a part or fix something in the tractor, it was a pretty straightforward process.

You would go down to your local John Deere dealership and, you know, that was owned by a guy who lived down the road.

You know, say you have a problem with a wire or you need a replacement part, you go to Leland Deems, right?

And if you're not happy with Leland Deems, you could go to another dealership.

Or maybe you go to an independent repair person who's somewhere down the road.

Right.

They'd hook you up and then you would go about your day.

But in Jared's experience, a few times this has happened.

He received the error code, didn't get a lot of information from the operating system.

And without much to go on, he went straight to John Deere.

And at that point, John Deere holds all the cards.

Right.

Because to restart the tractor, Jared needed a technician who knows how to access the tractor's computer.

And then at that point, he had to pay that person to come and check it out.