Fight For Your Right To Modify And Repair Your Vehicle

[Anime]

Automakers Say You Don’t Really Own Your Car

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is fighting for vehicle owners’ rights to inspect the code that runs their vehicles and to repair and modify their vehicles, or have a mechanic of their choice do the work. At the moment, the anti-circumvention prohibition in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act arguably restricts vehicle inspection, repair, and modification. If EFF is successful then vehicle owners will be free to inspect and tinker, as long as they don’t run afoul of other regulations, such as those governing vehicle emissions, safety, or copyright law.

You can support EFF's exemption requests by adding your name to the petition we'll submit in the rulemaking.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/04/automakers-say-you-dont-really-own-your-car

https://act.eff.org/action/fight-for-your-right-to-repair-your-car

Carmakers Want To Use Copyright Law To Make Working On Your Car Illegal

Automakers are considering cars “mobile computing devices” and as such would fall under the DMCA’s pretty draconian protections. Really —here’s how they describe their reasoning in the Auto Alliance’s (a group of carmakers including BMW Group, FCA US LLC, Ford Motor Company, General Motors Company, Jaguar Land Rover, Mazda, Mercedes- Benz USA, Mitsubishi Motors, Porsche, Toyota, Volkswagen Group of America and Volvo Cars North America) statement against a proposed exemption to allow people to work on their own cars:

http://jalopnik.com/carmakers-want-to-make-working-on-your-car-illegal-beca-1699132210

Automobiles are inherently mobile, and increasingly they contain equipment that would commonly be considered computing devices... Many of the ECUs embodied in today’s motor vehicles are carefully calibrated to satisfy federal or state regulatory requirements with respect to emissions control, fuel economy, or vehicle safety. Allowing vehicle owners to add and remove programs at whim is highly likely to take vehicles out of compliance with these requirements, rendering the operation or re-sale of the vehicle legally problematic. The decision to employ access controls to hinder unauthorized “tinkering” with these vital computer programs is necessary in order to protect the safety and security of drivers and passengers and to reduce the level of non-compliance with regulatory standards. We urge the Copyright Office to give full consideration to the impacts on critical national energy and environmental goals, as well as motor vehicle safety, in its decision on this proposed exemption. Since the record on this proposal contains no evidence regarding its applicability to or impact on motor vehicles, cars and trucks should be specifically excluded from any exemption that is recommended in this area.

http://copyright.gov/1201/2015/comm...utomobile_Manufacturers_class17_1201_2014.pdf

 

[FLOffroad]

Thanks for sharing Anime.

I read an article about this a few days ago (more focused on modding though), but it didn't mention EFF at all.

 

[Anime]

Victory for Users: Librarian of Congress Renews and Expands Protections for Fair Uses

Car Security Research, Repair, and Modifications

The Librarian recognized the need for vehicle owners to circumvent access restrictions in order to repair, modify, and tinker. The exemption removes the uncertainty of whether 1201 liability would attach to a range of activities that have been clearly lawful throughout most of the hundred-year history of automotive tinkering, but were called into question as an unintended consequence of copyright law. We are also pleased by the exemption for security research, which covers vehicles and many other devices. The Librarian included unnecessary limits and delays in the exemptions, but overall the ruling represent a victory for the public that will help independent security researchers evaluate automotive software, will promote competition in the vehicle aftermarket, and will support vehicle owners who wish to learn about or improve on their own cars.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/...ress-renews-and-expands-protections-fair-uses

Automakers just lost the battle to stop you from hacking your car

The vice grip on car software gets forcibly loosened

The Librarian of Congress has issued new exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) as part of a triennial review, and one of them grants people access to parts of the computer software running their cars. While you've always been allowed to tinker with your car's engine or change the oil and rotate the tires, now you'll be able to get under the digital hood.

The DMCA was passed in 1998 to protect things like copyrighted software, usually by prohibiting the copying or modification of it, or at least the bypassing of encryption that protects it. But every three years, groups can propose exceptions to these rules. For this year's review, the Electronic Frontier Foundation proposed an exemption that would allow people to access these computer programs "for the purposes of diagnosis, repair and modification of vehicles." The proposal was "fully supported" by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, which believes the exemption is "necessary to allow consumers to continue to engage in the longstanding practice of working on their own vehicles."

This didn't sit well with a number of automotive groups, especially the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, the Association of Global Automakers, the Auto Alliance, GM, John Deere, or the Motor & Equipment Manufacturers Association. Each is listed in the Librarian of Congress' order as having opposed the exemption, for various reasons. They said it was "unnecessary" because "vehicle owners have alternative options, such as manufacturer-authorized repair shops and tools." They also claimed that unrestricted access to this software could present "serious public health, safety and environmental concerns" — an intended or unintended modification could disable the airbags or the anti-lock brakes, for instance. The Department of Transportation (DOT), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the California Air Resources Board (ARB) all also voiced concerns. The DOT and ARB "responded with varying degrees of concern," and the EPA opposed any exemptions whatsoever.

David Mao — the acting Librarian of Congress — granted the exemption with a number of restrictions based on these concerns, starting with a 12-month waiting period before the exemption will be officially granted. In addition, the software that controls "telematics or entertainment systems" is not exempt, so you won't be allowed to dive into the code that runs your car's infotainment setup. You'll also still be held accountable if your fooling around with the software violates laws or regulations, especially those from the DOT or the EPA.

Groups like the EPA fear that customers will use the exemption to do things like increase engine performance at the cost of higher vehicle emissions, but irony is that the lack of public access to vehicle software was (part of) what made it so easy for Volkswagen to conceal its recent emissions scandal in the first place.

The entire order can be found at the US Copyright Office's website, but here's the new exemption straight from the order:

Computer programs that are contained in and control the functioning of a motorized land vehicle such as a personal automobile, commercial motor vehicle or mechanized agricultural vehicle, except for computer programs primarily designed for the control of telematics or entertainment systems for such vehicle, when circumvention is a necessary step undertaken by the authorized owner of the vehicle to allow the diagnosis, repair or lawful modification of a vehicle function; and where such circumvention does not constitute a violation of applicable law, including without limitation regulations promulgated by the Department of Transportation or the Environmental Protection Agency; and provided, however, that such circumvention is initiated no earlier than 12 months after the effective date of this regulation.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/27/9622150/dmca-exemption-accessing-car-software

Section 1201 - Exemptions to Prohibition Against Circumvention of Technological Measures Protecting Copyrighted Works

Sixth Triennial Section 1201 Proceeding

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), codified in part in 17 U.S.C. § 1201, makes it illegal to circumvent technological measures used to prevent unauthorized access to copyrighted works, including copyrighted books, movies, videos, video games, computer programs. Section 1201, however, also instructs the Librarian of Congress to make determinations in a rulemaking proceeding every three years, upon the recommendation of the Register of Copyrights, evaluating and, as appropriate, adopting limited exemptions from the general prohibition against circumvention of access controls.

The Copyright Office has concluded the sixth triennial rulemaking proceeding pursuant to 17 U.S.C. § 1201. This page contains links to the Register's Recommendation, the Final Rule (Public Inspection) announcing the exemptions, and a document addressing Frequently Asked Questions about the rulemaking. An Introduction to the Register’s Recommendation summarizes the exemptions and the rulemaking process.

http://copyright.gov/1201/