[Fiveinch]

I just read a couple of articles outlining a desire by the Automakers Alliance to have our vehicles fall under the restrictions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. That is, the automakers wish to make it illegal for us to work on/repair/modify our own cars...with emphasis on the ECU code. While this thought is not a law, it has been presented to the 2015 US Copyright Rulemaking proceeding.

Effectively, if allowed to pass as law, the vehicle we purchase will come a with a EULA for the software (directly, or inferred), and any actions that may effect the software as an input to it (think: changing tire size) will be restricted by DMCA.

I refrain from posting urls/links due to not finding specific language granting me permission to link to any of the URLs I found the info at. However, this is an effective search string with most browsers: DMCA automobile 2015

 

[B5 Blue]

Wow I searched and read this, what a crock. I'll agree to this if the auto makers give me a new car every year to drive of my choice.

 

[Carnage]

Yeah it's a crock of hoax of a crock. Don't believe everything we read on the Internet. "Where'd you hear that? The Internet."

 

[Carnage]

Wow I searched and read this, what a crock. I'll agree to this if the auto makers give me a new car every year to drive of my choice.

OMG WE AGREED AGAIN LOL WTH IS WRONG WITH US

 

[JBS$]

If I pay my hard earned cash for an item, it is mine to do with as I damn well please. If I lease the item, it belongs to someone else and I am only entitled to temporary use under agreed terms. If these general terms are changed, I shall exercise my right to spend my money else where.

 

[B5 Blue]

OMG WE AGREED AGAIN LOL WTH IS WRONG WITH US

The sky is falling

 

[Carnage]

The sky is falling

Haha all late!

 

[Fiveinch]

I dunno how much of a hoax it may be. I work a lot of software development for a pretty heavy hitting organization, and I will say that software licensing absolutely OWNS us if we need to use a company's product. It is rational to believe that automakers will, one day, copyright the software embedded within their vehicles, and this action may result in a very restrictive ownership of a performance vehicle. That stated, when vehicle software is legally locked down, there may be a way for auto shops to purchase special licensing allowing them access to the vehicle software and the cost of that licensing will be passed to the consumers.

As to what is read on the Interwebs: I've found this to be a decent forum.

 

[Nitewing]

From a cyber security standpoint, this would make sense from the automakers perspective as to protect software from being manipulated or hacked, and cause damage to the auto or people. It would also protect them from being sued as well if no one was supposed to be able to access and modify their code. Personally, I don't agree with this, but I do see where they are coming from on this

 

[F6F]

If it's on the internet, it's true

 

[John P.]

I read that article as well. It's a bunch of nonesense.... That will never fly. Kinda sounds like the old group that was named the Association of Licensed Automotive Manufacturers (ALAM) that sued Henry Ford as the patent owner of the "automobile" back in the early 1900's. Just because they held the patent on anything catagorized as motorized vehicles. Ford sued and won...

This has profit and monopoly all over it. I am sure that the stipulation is that "Only Authourized Dealer Network" can work on these vehicles. I don't think this has a chance in any court of law, even if it made it that far. At the rate that FCA is going, they will put their dealer network out of business or force them to seek alternative means to make a profit, as they just raised their wholesale pricing on their vehicle invoicing.

 

[MrBigKid]

From a cyber security standpoint, this would make sense from the automakers perspective as to protect software from being manipulated or hacked, and cause damage to the auto or people. It would also protect them from being sued as well if no one was supposed to be able to access and modify their code. Personally, I don't agree with this, but I do see where they are coming from on this

This is where they will hit. Cyber security. The more and more we link software to the car, the more risk there will be of hackers. And IMHO, that will be the excuse they need to "protect" us.
Unfortunately it does have a kernal of truth to it. ..

 

[hellcat1]

This is America,, where we have freedom of choice.... we bought there product,, we own said product to do with whatever we like,, in the end we, the owner of said product is Liable... it's like buying a gun and killing someone,, it's not the gun manufacturer that's liable,, it's the owner of the gun..so if he brake our car because we hacked the ecm, guess what, it's our 70k paper weight, as soon as we hack it,, dodge is not responsible..again this is what I believe,,