Jump to content

USA about to allow breaking security and DRM to maintain, update and fix your own devices


Mcinwwl

Recommended Posts

from Motherboard

via Sekurak

tl;dr - maybe soon you will not be breaking EULA, intellectual property and other lawyerese bulldung by breaking embedded DRM or security measurements, if your intent is to simply fix your own device. Feels like a move in the right direction.

My personal question is, could it potentially affect the legal status of our POSReady updates installed on regular XP, or sharing installers of the files that are no longer published by their owners, like Windows Live Essentials. Do we have a lawyer here to wake me up from this blissful dream?

Edited by Mcinwwl
Link to comment
Share on other sites


The caveat on this is that while "DRM-breaking" is now allowed, the methods and software for that breaking is still illegal to distribute. You are allowed to do it yourself, figure it out yourself and even reverse engineer the software/hardware to accomplish this, but you cannot tell anyone how you did it or make available which programs you made or used to do it.

Basically, the ruling has put repair shops partly under the umbrella of the original manufacturers of the hardware, but still leaves out the hobbyist. Due to the restrictions on the hows/whats this has put a larger hurdle to hobbyists or startups than had existed before. Because "those that know" now can't tell, and I suspect if anyone at a repair shop gets caught passing their knowledge off could bring legal trouble for them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks. Now I understand... and I don't.
I mean I get your explanation, but I cannot compile all the back-logic behind this kind of legislation. What about the 1st amendment? ;) But jokes aside, I've read somewhere that one is allowed to publish information, even describing illegal activity in details, as long as it is not convincing anyone to do real harm, and here you cannot inform others how to do things they can legally do o.O There is some major thing, some thinking paradigm I don't get in here.

Sometimes i'm happy to live in a country that tries to catch up west and still fails, so I can do whatever I want with my own hardware and software for my personal use.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

35 minutes ago, Mcinwwl said:

Thanks. Now I understand... and I don't.
I mean I get your explanation, but I cannot compile all the back-logic behind this kind of legislation. What about the 1st amendment? ;) But jokes aside, I've read somewhere that one is allowed to publish information, even describing illegal activity in details, as long as it is not convincing anyone to do real harm, and here you cannot inform others how to do things they can legally do o.O There is some major thing, some thinking paradigm I don't get in here.

Sometimes i'm happy to live in a country that tries to catch up west and still fails, so I can do whatever I want with my own hardware and software for my personal use.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits government restriction on speech (unless it is a death threat or cause for treason), press, assembly (peaceably), religion, or petitioning the government in times of grievance. So, yes, in terms of free speech, I can for instance, put a sign in my front yard that says something absolutely horrible, and the government cannot prohibit me from displaying it. However, you may still bear consequences if someone comes up and decides to burn down your house, in which they'll be charged with arson, but otherwise anything can be said. Unfortunately, people are attacking these basic rights that everyone should bear, not understanding what consequences they would receive if this amendment were to ever be repealed.

Quote

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/3/2018 at 1:39 PM, Mcinwwl said:

I mean I get your explanation, but I cannot compile all the back-logic behind this kind of legislation.

The primary thing that determines if and how laws are put into place in the US is wholly dependent on money. That is why this ruling doesn't do anything against the manufacturers. They are still allowed to create DRM and the other things that impede RTR (Right to Repair) such as using proprietary components, hiding information behind paywalls and drawn out processes, etc. The ruling basically has only said that the manufacturer can no longer sue individuals or companies that will repair one of their products that they will not, or who would charge a lower price. Which was what some companies have been doing. But companies like Apple had no real claim to the actual repairs. They take action based on other things such as the breaking of DRM, or using ICE to confiscate parts. Apple likely isn't the only one who is active in doing things like this, but they are the one that is most well known to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/3/2018 at 8:19 PM, glnz said:

My duct tape was illegal ??????

No, not the duct tape in itself.

It is the specific pattern you used (a large X© ) that is protected by copyright.

If you make a W or Y shaped patch, it would be fine ;)

jaclaz

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Tripredacus said:

The primary thing that determines if and how laws are put into place in the US is wholly dependent on money.

Well, not that I didn't expect that, I just wished the world is not only greed driven :) Thanks again for explanation, I got enough :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...