Thread by @doctorow, #RightToRepair has never been more urgent. There's a reason farmers have been [...]

#RightToRepair has never been more urgent. There& #39;s a reason farmers have been on the front lines of R2R: they have pressing deadlines ("make hay while the sun shines") and are located far from service depots and transport hubs.

1/

That& #39;s why farms have workshops and even forges. They have to rely on their own ingenuity to fix their stuff, or they have to do without, often at critical junctures.

2/

During pandemic, hospitals taken on the characteristics of farmers: isolated from service with urgent needs. And so do we all, to a greater or lesser extent, as our stuff breaks down and no one is around to fix it.

#r2r">https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/20/pluralistic-20-mar-2020/ #r2r

3/">https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/2...

There are three major reasons companies like @Apple, @JohnDeere and @Medtronic have fought so hard against R2R, killing 20 bills at the state level:

1. It lets them charge you extra for repairs and parts.

4/

2. It lets them decide when a device needs to be retired so they can sell you a new one (Tim Cook called longer Iphone usage cycles the biggest threat to Apple profits).

5/

3. It lets them charge you extra for features already in the device. For example, @ThermomixUSA& #39;s new blender/cooker has a high-temp mode that you have to pay a subscription fee to unlock. Independent repair could subvert this, committing "Contempt of Business Model."

6/

This is rampant in med-tech. Think of sleep apnea CPAP devices: they had proprietary data-formats that allow manufacturers to charge doctors to monitor their use.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xwjd4w/im-possibly-alive-because-it-exists-why-sleep-apnea-patients-rely-on-a-cpap-machine-hacker

7/">https://www.vice.com/en_us/art...

Why Sleep Apnea Patients Rely on a CPAP Machine Hacker

An Australian hacker has spent thousands of hours hacking the DRM that medical device manufacturers put on CPAP machines to create a free tool that lets patients modify their treatment.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xwjd4w/im-possibly-alive-because-it-exists-why-sleep-apnea-patients-rely-on-a-cpap-machine-hacker

They& #39;re also riddled with spyware that lets insurers gouge you on consumables and deny benefits to people who need them:

https://www.propublica.org/article/you-snooze-you-lose-insurers-make-the-old-adage-literally-true

8/">https://www.propublica.org/article/y...

You Snooze, You Lose: Insurers Make The Old Adage Literally True — ProPublica

Millions of sleep apnea patients rely on CPAP breathing machines to get a good night’s rest. Health insurers use a variety of tactics, including surveillance, to make patients bear the costs. Experts...

https://www.propublica.org/article/you-snooze-you-lose-insurers-make-the-old-adage-literally-true

Enter @ResMed& #39;s Airsense 10, a CPAP machine that the company claims cannot be retrofitted to serve as a ventilator, because it can only push air, not pull it out again:

https://www.resmed.com/en-us/sleep-apnea/cpap-parts-support/sleep-apnea-full-products-list/cpap-machines/airsense-10/

9/">https://www.resmed.com/en-us/sle...

AirSense 10 CPAP machine for sleep apnea - ResMed

ReMed AirSense 10 is one of the world’s most widely used CPAP machines for sleep apnea. Includes myAir access, which provides a nightly sleep score and coaching.

https://www.resmed.com/en-us/sleep-apnea/cpap-parts-support/sleep-apnea-full-products-list/cpap-machines/airsense-10/

Security researcher @qrs analyzed the Airsense 10 and found a mode in its firmware that allows it to pump air both in and out of the user& #39;s lungs. He& #39;s released Airbreak, a jailbreaking patch for the Airsense to turn it into a ventilator.

https://airbreak.dev/

10/">https://airbreak.dev/">...

This is presently only for research purposes. As Hudson writes, "in its current form [this patch] should be considered a proof of concept and is not intended for use in a life-support capacity."

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/04/firmware-jailbreak-lets-low-cost-medical-devices-act-like-ventilators/

11/">https://arstechnica.com/informati...

Medical device “jailbreak” could help solve the dangerous shortage of ventilators

Manufacturer says conversion requires “significant rework.” Airbreak suggests otherwise.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/04/firmware-jailbreak-lets-low-cost-medical-devices-act-like-ventilators/

Significantly, the jailbreak brings "the AirSense S10 to near feature parity with BiPAP machines from the same manufacturer, boost the maximum pressure output available, and provide a starting point to add more advanced emergency ventilator functionality."

12/

Hudson and colleagues are calling on Resmed to release an official, supported patch that enables the latent functionality in their widely available, low-cost CPAP machine.

eof/

Latest Threads Unrolled: