Hacking the Tractor: what the future of farming means for open science | Southern Fried Science

" ... Here’s the short version: Tractors are complicated and increasingly controlled by onboard computers. These computers use proprietary software, and that software is protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The software itself is encrypted to prevent copying or modding. Those encryption are also protected by the DMCA. Breaking that encryption is illegal, regardless of the state of the software. If you have to decrypt the software to remove it, you’re breaking the law ... The ABI 3730xl DNA Analyzer is an awesome piece of equipment. Sure, these old school sequencers are being phased out in favor of “Next Gen” machines which can churn out terabytes of data, but, more than 10 years after their introduction, these beasts are still plugging away, producing data by the well-full. As labs replace these and other Sanger-sequencing machines with newer, fancier equipment, the secondary market for older sequencers is booming. They’re cheap, reliable, and there’s a wealth of literature and methodologies already validated on the platform. The 3730 could be a workhorse for establishing molecular facilities in places where they were previously untenable. They could fuel a boom in conservation genetics in the developing world and other regions where capital equipment has been historically difficult to obtain.  Can you guess what the problem is? I’ve visited numerous labs around the world that are operating second-hand sequencers. The machines themselves are robust, reliable, and reasonably affordable. The software is not. Crouched next to their prized sequencer is, in all cases, a dusty, withering computer, running the original software installation ..."