This blog post is mainly about section 1201(a) of the DMCA. It states that , “No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title.” This essentially means that if a company puts a lock on their software to prevent users from changing it or duplicating it, then it is illegal to try and bypass this lock. This means that people can’t legally do things like “jailbreak” their iPads or copy DVDs. It also means that people who own equipment with software in it cannot fix the machine (if it involves getting into the software) without the express permission of the company that sold it to them.
A lot of people have a big problem with this. Kyle Wiens from WIRED magazine takes issue with this, arguing that, “If you bought it, you should own it—simple as that.” He thinks it is unfair that a farmer can buy a piece of John Deere software equipment, but not be able to fix it because the fix would require circumventing the lock on the machine’s software. I believe that he is ignoring the big picture of this though. The company doesn’t want people getting into their equipment’s software, which I believe they have every right to want. There are several legitimizing reasons for this.
First of all, hacking into their computer code could further damage the system and make it more dangerous in some cases. In the case of automobiles, what if you accidentally change something that affects the cars steering. A lot of cars have self-driving features for simple things like parking or automatic brakes. We wouldn’t want those being randomly activated because some person thought he could improve his car.
Another good reason is that companies want to protect their image. Every instance of a product is representative of the company that makes it. If every Toyota car that you get into has some type of DIY enhancement made to it, then you’re probably going to think that Toyota makes cars that are rough around the edges and need fixing up. If I were running Toyota, I’d much rather have people thinking that my cars are exactly what consumers need.
Finally, it’s also worth noting that the code could be stolen. If people are allowed to hack into a car or tractor’s software, what’s stopping them from stealing the ideas from the code and applying them to their own products. Sure the average user won’t do this, but other large competing companies certainly could try to. As John Deere says (according to Kyle himself), “allowing people to alter the software—even for the purpose of repair—would ‘make it possible for pirates, third-party developers, and less innovative competitors to free-ride off the creativity, unique expression and ingenuity of vehicle software.'”
Kyle from WIRED magazine might not agree with this. Expanding on his earlier mentioned statement, he also points out, “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.” My response to Kyle is very simple, welcome to the digital age. Yes, it’s John Deere’s tractor your driving, and they want to be the ones who are responsible for their image. So if they don’t want farmers tampering with and messing up their machines (thereby potentially ruining their reputation), they have every right to say that. Software is a complicated beast. Everyone who has worked with it knows how easy it is to mess it up. If I were John Deere, I would want to be in charge of the fixes too.
Here is my take on this issue, we should all be real about what we want to be legal. Let’s look at iPad jailbreaking for instance. First of all, it’s called jailbreaking! Take a hint people, you know you’re up to something wrong. Secondly, most of the time people “tinker” with their iPad by doing this, it is to illegally download apps that would otherwise cost money. And then there are DVDs. Some people think that there needs to be an exception made to the DMCA so that DVDs can be copied. How can you not see why this is bad?! Even if you aren’t selling the DVDs for profit, you could easily distribute copies to family and friends so they don’t have to buy it. Just because it’s limited to your friends doesn’t mean what you’re doing isn’t piracy. Let’s be real folks.
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