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posted by CoolHand on Friday April 24 2015, @05:18AM   Printer-friendly
from the what's-mine-is-yours dept.

Wired has an article which responds to the view of John Deere and General Motors on what the people who buy their vehicles actually own, which was expressed during comments on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA):

John Deere—the world’s largest agricultural machinery maker —told the Copyright Office that farmers don’t own their tractors. Because computer code snakes through the DNA of modern tractors, farmers receive “an implied license for the life of the vehicle to operate the vehicle.”

It’s John Deere’s tractor, folks. You’re just driving it.

Several manufacturers recently submitted similar comments to the Copyright Office under an inquiry into the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
...
General Motors told the Copyright Office that proponents of copyright reform mistakenly “conflate ownership of a vehicle with ownership of the underlying computer software in a vehicle.” But I’d bet most Americans make the same conflation—and Joe Sixpack might be surprised to learn GM owns a giant chunk of the Chevy sitting in his driveway

Also covered by Techdirt.

 
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  • (Score: 2) by TK-421 on Friday April 24 2015, @10:48AM

    by TK-421 (3235) on Friday April 24 2015, @10:48AM (#174596) Journal

    Just to be clear, High Energy Ignition (H.E.I.) as designed and marketed by GM does not run any software what so ever. It is simply a solid-state based ignition system. It works extremely well, however it stopped being produced in the late 90's.

    It works so well, without software, that many GM enthusiasts chose to adapt it to older models (much older, think '57 Chevy) to get away from the old points and condenser systems.

    My point is this, you say you want a car without all of the software controlled aspects, then H.E.I. is something you DO want.

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  • (Score: 2) by JeanCroix on Friday April 24 2015, @01:36PM

    by JeanCroix (573) on Friday April 24 2015, @01:36PM (#174636)
    I still run points on my '55 Dodge, and over the course of 12 years, it's given me far fewer electrical problems than my modern daily drivers. Anecdotal, I know. But I can't help feeling that sometimes the simpler solution is the better one after all.
    • (Score: 2) by TK-421 on Friday April 24 2015, @03:19PM

      by TK-421 (3235) on Friday April 24 2015, @03:19PM (#174689) Journal

      I definitely see your point. My first car was a similar setup to your Dodge...points. I never had any problems with it, but then again I never let the car sit un-started with the key in the run position and it is a Chevy (still got it) so setting point dwell is pretty straight forward.

      I contrast that with drivers who routinely let the points burn out by using the wrong key position (engine off key on) and Ford thin-wall Henry's that I never could set a proper point dwell on.

      One solid state ignition I would avoid though is Opti-Sparc, that was a turd.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 25 2015, @02:33PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 25 2015, @02:33PM (#175063)

    Alrighty then, replace the HEI in the text with modern electronic ignition-mathingy.