Episode 2 (2020): Minna Saariketo & Mareike Glöss - In the grey zone of hacking? Two cases in the political economy of software and the Right to Repair

Minna Saariketo is a postdoc at the
Department of Computer and Systems Sciences, Stockholm
University. Mareike Glöss is a lecturer
Department of Computer and Systems Sciences, Stockholm
University.
In their research, they address the ‘grey zone of
hacking’: end users subverting software and hardware controls
imposed by manufacturers. We discuss one empirical case in
particular: farmers claiming the ‘right to repair’ of
agricultural equipment. The ‘Right to Repair’ movement has
brought together users and developers to circumvent products that
cannot be repaired or modified freely. Manufactures have
responded by ‘lock-ins’ by not supplying spare parts, service
manuals, disassembly and diagnostic tools, as well as forbidding
modification of software in their licenses. Hackers have worked
around these lock-ins, creating parallel networks of software and
hardware distribution, supplying hacking tools to end users. So
in their session, they will talk about the political economy of
software: how the control of technical artefacts is achieved both
legally and economically. Second is the issue of agency,
expertise, and technological literacy.