Got this email form IFIXIT about Copyrights and fixing things you "buy"

[KickinGravy]

So I got this email from IFIXIT about some scary stuff. What are your thoughts?      

         

 

   

 

Corporations are at it again: They’re exploiting copyright law to chip away at your right to repair.

Manufacturers just told the Copyright Office that you don’t own the things you buy. They said you shouldn’t be able to jailbreak your own iPad or unlock your cellphone. And John Deere and General Motors said that owners shouldn’t be allowed to look at the software that makes vehicles run—even to diagnosis and repair a car. Ridiculous!

Call us crazy, but we think that if you bought it, you own it. And you should be able to tweak it, modify it, and (especially) repair it as you see fit. But what we call ownership, manufacturers are re-labeling as piracy and theft.

They’re wrong. We believe that repair can fix the world. That repair saves you money. That repair keeps things in service and out of the landfill. We think you have the right to repair the things you own—and we’re on the front lines fighting for that right.

But words only go so far: we need to level the playing field. So we’ve started working with state lawmakers to do just that. Our allies in New York and Minnesota have introduced Fair Repair legislation to make it easier and more affordable to repair electronics. And in Congress, lawmakers from California and Texas have proposed two groundbreaking bills: the Unlocking Technology Act and the You Own Devices Act (YODA).

We’ve laid the groundwork, now it’s time for you to help. Here are a few easy things you can do:

   • New York and Minnesota residents: Tell your representatives to support Fair Repair legislation.

   • Tell your representatives in Congress that you support YODA, and sign a petition in support of the Unlocking Technology Act.

   • Get in touch with your legislator and ask them to introduce Fair Repair locally.

   • Sign the EFF’s petition in support of your right to repair your car.

   • Join the Digital Right to Repair Coalition, and make the world safer for repair.

 

[Aytex]

They like to repair things to the max

[KickinGravy]

They like to repair things to the max

Lol, indeed

But still crazy stuff 

[JT8101997]

Wow. That's intense lol. That's pretty cool that they're trying to inform people about this stuff though

[SIGSEGV]

Introducing the

iFixit Government Kit

[Speedbird]

iFixit, cool guides, cool tools and cool guys. I wish I could support, but I don't live in the US and I'm under 18.

[Guest]

 

 

Corporations are at it again: They’re exploiting copyright law to chip away at your right to repair.

Manufacturers just told the Copyright Office that you don’t own the things you buy. They said you shouldn’t be able to jailbreak your own iPad or unlock your cellphone. And John Deere and General Motors said that owners shouldn’t be allowed to look at the software that makes vehicles run—even to diagnosis and repair a car. Ridiculous!

 

 

I don't own the things i buy? What the fuck am i buying then? 

[KickinGravy]

I don't own the things i buy? What the fuck am i buying then? 

IKR? So crazy

[KirbyTech]

I don't own the things i buy? What the fuck am i buying then? 

That was my thought, crazy. If I pay for it then I own it, simple as that. Okay well not really but you know what I mean.

[Sauron]

Open source hardware is the future... let's leave these bloodsuckers in the dirt.

[christianled59]

“an implied license for the life of the vehicle to operate the vehicle.” Yeah right. Implied? No. When you purchase ANYTHING the ONLY thing implied is that you are trading currency for ownership. Since when did it "imply" anything but that? Unless there's a contract and somewhere in there, there is fine print actually defining this, then I don't see how John Deere has a leg to stand on.

[KickinGravy]

“an implied license for the life of the vehicle to operate the vehicle.” Yeah right. Implied? No. When you purchase ANYTHING the ONLY thing implied is that you are trading currency for ownership. Since when did it "imply" anything but that? Unless there's a contract and somewhere in there, there is fine print actually defining this, then I don't see how John Deere has a leg to stand on.

Thats funny cuz in their logo they have a three legged deer

[christianled59]

Thats funny cuz in their logo they have a three legged deer

That's great. Haha

[Trik'Stari]

Simple solution that will piss them off:

 

Buy older things that they don't make anymore (but someone else makes the parts to) and repair it. Then they can't bitch or really do anything.

[KickinGravy]

Simple solution that will piss them off:

 

Buy older things that they don't make anymore (but someone else makes the parts to) and repair it. Then they can't bitch or really do anything.

Yeah they sure don't make things like they used too

[KE2012]

Oh yeah! I totally forgot to tell them that they were only looking after my money and didn't own it, I'll have it back now please! 

[Kyuubixchidori]

This all started because car makers don't want people to mess with the self driving parts of cars, makes sense. If someone mods the software and the car kills someone the manufacturer will be blamed

This went to far though. I think this is being pregnant emptive instead of waiting for some crazy law

[GzeroD]

After reading through the article it is not as blood boiling as the email would make you think. they are not saying you don't own the  car just that you don't own the software that makes it run and that while you have unlimited access to it for normal use; Customizing it is out of the question. While that is not something I think is a good think I can understand the idea. 

 

IMO if they offered a unlocked more mod-able/ open source software package and allowed people to apply it that over the stock closed software would be cool; but I imagine you would lose a lot of functionality performing that swap until the open source community really hit the problem.

[Jaybird]

they dont want people to learn their stuff such that it get copied and repeated. it makes sense to me. but Ill agree that criminalizing jail breaking or fixing your own product is retarded. it would be better to simply decriminalize it. 

[Dabombinable]

Simple solution that will piss them off:

 

Buy older things that they don't make anymore (but someone else makes the parts to) and repair it. Then they can't bitch or really do anything.

Heheh, for example, with an OC to about 4.5GHz Xeon X5450 should perform about the same as an i5 4440.

[Trik'Stari]

they dont want people to learn their stuff such that it get copied and repeated. it makes sense to me. but Ill agree that criminalizing jail breaking or fixing your own product is retarded. it would be better to simply decriminalize it. 

Reverse engineering like that is already illegal. Fixing and repairing your own possessions is not. They just want to be able to charge you more by having THEM repair it.

[I need a better name]

but why YODA?

[dfsdfgfkjsefoiqzemnd]

For those that use the night theme :

 

Corporations are at it again: They’re exploiting copyright law to chip away at your right to repair.

Manufacturers just told the Copyright Office that you don’t own the things you buy. They said you shouldn’t be able to jailbreak your own iPad or unlock your cellphone. And John Deere and General Motors said that owners shouldn’t be allowed to look at the software that makes vehicles run—even to diagnosis and repair a car. Ridiculous!

Call us crazy, but we think that if you bought it, you own it. And you should be able to tweak it, modify it, and (especially) repair it as you see fit. But what we call ownership, manufacturers are re-labeling as piracy and theft.

They’re wrong. We believe that repair can fix the world. That repair saves you money. That repair keeps things in service and out of the landfill. We think you have the right to repair the things you own—and we’re on the front lines fighting for that right.

But words only go so far: we need to level the playing field. So we’ve started working with state lawmakers to do just that. Our allies in New York and Minnesota have introduced Fair Repair legislation to make it easier and more affordable to repair electronics. And in Congress, lawmakers from California and Texas have proposed two groundbreaking bills: the Unlocking Technology Act and the You Own Devices Act (YODA).

We’ve laid the groundwork, now it’s time for you to help. Here are a few easy things you can do:

• New York and Minnesota residents: Tell your representatives to support Fair Repair legislation.

• Tell your representatives in Congress that you support YODA, and sign a petition in support of the Unlocking Technology Act.

• Get in touch with your legislator and ask them to introduce Fair Repair locally.

• Sign the EFF’s petition in support of your right to repair your car.

• Join the Digital Right to Repair Coalition, and make the world safer for repair.

This is getting truly ridiculous. So now before you buy anything that comes with any sort of paperwork, you need to read all that before you pay for the device.

With a car it's simple enough, you order the dealer to change the terms of the agreement and threaten to walk out if he doesn't. With a laptop or a cellphone however it's going to be difficult.

[mr moose]

There is a fine line here,  When you buy something that has IP in it like software, the company has a right to protect hat from being discovered (11 secret herbs and spices if you will),  they also have a right to dishonor warranties on any product that has been tampered with.  However just nanometres away there is the consumer right to do what they want with the product they purchased.  

 

Personally so long as I can access the computer and identify error codes, reset it and read the values, maybe even disable certain aspects to enable 3rd party accessories (anything from re-mapping for aftermarket performance parts to a new stereo).  I don't need to know the rest of the inner workings of the software.

[Laputacake]

YODA