Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday November 02 2016, @01:28PM   Printer-friendly
from the phone-phreaks-rejoice dept.

You may have thought that if you owned your digital devices, you were allowed to do whatever you like with them. In truth, even for possessions as personal as your car, PC, or insulin pump, you risked a lawsuit every time you reverse-engineered their software guts to dig up their security vulnerabilities—until now.

Last Friday, a new exemption to the decades-old law known as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act quietly kicked in, carving out protections for Americans to hack their own devices without fear that the DMCA's ban on circumventing protections on copyrighted systems would allow manufacturers to sue them. One exemption, crucially, will allow new forms of security research on those consumer devices. Another allows for the digital repair of vehicles. Together, the security community and DIYers are hoping those protections, which were enacted by the Library of Congress's Copyright Office in October of 2015 but delayed a full year, will spark a new era of benevolent hacking for both research and repair.

Unfortunately, the exemptions are only temporary and will need to be re-approved the next time the Copyright Office reviews its exemptions, in 2018.


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 02 2016, @03:31PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 02 2016, @03:31PM (#421703)

    If you use tune software to tune your ECM, the dealer will not honor the warranty if you blow an engine. Argue about it all you want about the right to modify the engine control parameters, the dealer will still say it caused the engine damage.

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 02 2016, @04:38PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 02 2016, @04:38PM (#421728)

    in most states, given emission control requirements.

    California for instance it definitely is, since this qualifies as modifying emission control systems, and will fail you on smog, just like modifying the carbuerator, running a piggyback unit, etc. Plenty of other electronics in your car you could modify, but most of them could have serious unintended consequences without more documentation on the system's expectations and operations. And I am pretty sure your car would become uninsured/uninsurable if this became known to your insurance company, similiar to the warrnty example by the parent post.

    Yay for freedom and liberty in America. Because I totally feel like I can do ANYTHING here without running afoul of a dozen laws and committing at least one felony! </sarcasm>

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 02 2016, @05:19PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 02 2016, @05:19PM (#421745)

      If you are so burdened by regulation you could always move to Somalia.

      • (Score: 1) by Fauxlosopher on Wednesday November 02 2016, @06:48PM

        by Fauxlosopher (4804) on Wednesday November 02 2016, @06:48PM (#421785) Journal

        If you are so burdened by regulation you could always move to Somalia.

        OR, we as individuals and/or groups, could examine the foundation of USian law to determine which laws are valid and which (if any) are invalid. Pro-tip: the US Supreme Court is itself a construct of law, so trying to claim that the USSC is the font of all declarations to determine lawfulness is fallacious circular reasoning.

        1. All regulations are subservient to laws
        2. All lower laws are subservient to higher laws
        3. The highest law of USian land is the US Constitution
        4. The US Constitution itself cannot possess more authority than its source
        5. The source of authority for the US Constitution is no greater than that possessed by a single, random USian person, due to the Philadelphia Convention resting on no authority other than that which its delegates possessed, which in turn was given to them ultimately by lone individual voters whose authority does not increase in scope with numbers (illegal for 1 person to mug a stranger; still illegal for 1,000,000)

        No need for USians to move to Somalia; just start treating illegal laws and the criminals that operate under them the way they ought to be: ignore them, and if criminals confront you, deal with them as the criminals they are. (Admittedly, this approach is much easier to successfully implement the more like-minded and helpful folk are nearby. Finding such folk starts with spreading simple premises such as the one within this post.)

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 03 2016, @12:15AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 03 2016, @12:15AM (#421890)

        If you're so burdened by the NSA's mass surveillance, you could always move to Somalia. Do you honestly think that's a rational response to anything? If you want to argue that the specific regulations in discussion are good, then fucking do so. Argumentation!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 02 2016, @05:31PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 02 2016, @05:31PM (#421750)

      The tune software I was looking at for a GM vehicle will advance the timing curve, boost the turbo, give you better gas mileage and more power. The drawback is you have to run premium gas or the pistons will become screen tops. It will still pass the California smog test both at the tailpipe and computer, it's a hidden software update not seen from a scan tool.

      • (Score: 2) by Bogsnoticus on Wednesday November 02 2016, @10:32PM

        by Bogsnoticus (3982) on Wednesday November 02 2016, @10:32PM (#421864)

        Why is it so many people complain about "having" to run premium when they modify their car?

        Would you get a new spray job, and then park it under a tree to allow it to be covered in sap and birdshit?
        Would you buy a $5k suit, and then sew Megadeth patches all over it?
        Buy a toilet and then proceed to just shit in the bath tub?

        --
        Genius by birth. Evil by choice.
        • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday November 02 2016, @10:59PM

          by Gaaark (41) on Wednesday November 02 2016, @10:59PM (#421874) Journal

          Buy a toilet and then proceed to just shit in the bath tub?

          Hell ya! The dog drinks from the toilet.... duh! :)

          --
          --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
  • (Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday November 02 2016, @09:49PM

    by Grishnakh (2831) on Wednesday November 02 2016, @09:49PM (#421850)

    This stuff has been governed by the Magnusson-Moss Warranty Act since 1975. You can make any modifications to your car that you want (except perhaps in emission-controlled areas, that's another argument), and the dealer/manufacturer cannot refuse to honor the warranty, *unless* they can reasonably prove that your modification is what caused the issue.

    So yes, changing your ECM software, and then bringing your car to the dealer because it blew a hole in the piston, is likely to result in a refusal to honor the warranty (if they find out the software was modified). Or, changing your wheels to something radically different from the car's wheels, and then filing a claim when your suspension breaks, is also likely to result in a refusal.

    But they can't refuse to honor the warranty when your engine dies just because you put some Goodyear tires on instead of OEM Firestones (in the same size).