Researchers are now able to probe connected devices, computers and cars for security vulnerabilities without risking legal action. Last Friday, the FTC authorized changes to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) which will allow Americans to do hack their very own electronic gadgets. Researchers can lawfully reverse engineer products and consumers can repair their vehicle’s electronics, but the FTC is only allowing the exemptions for a two-year trial run.
Now you can officially hack into your own personal car or smart TV
The FTC and US Library of Congress enacted similar legislation in 2014 that allows you to unlock your own smartphone. Until today, however, it was illegal to mess with the programs in your car, thermostat or tractor, thanks to strict provisions in the DMCA’s Section 1201. That applied even to researchers probing the device security for flaws, a service that helps both the public and manufacturers. As an example, researchers commandeered a Jeep on the road to show it could be done, an act that was technically illegal.
You could have also been sued simply for trying to repair your personal electronics. In a well-publicized example, John Deere told farmers that they have no right to root around in the software that runs their tractor regardless if they are simply trying to fix the damned thing. That issue alone prompted over 40,000 public comments to the US Copyright Office demanding stronger ownership rights.
The exemptions have certain restrictions — individuals are only allowed to do “good-faith” hacking on “lawfully-acquired” devices. That means, for instance, that you may still get in trouble when you gain unauthorized access to a device you don’t own. Also, researchers can’t probe internet services or public services like airlines either, meaning that the jet hack done last year would certainly be illegal now.
Groups such as the Electronic Frontier Foundation, iFixit and Repair.org fought to have research and repair activities exempted from the DMCA, given that they actually have absolutely nothing to do with copyright law. “You could be sued or even jailed for trying to understand the software in your devices, or for helping others do the same,” the EFF wrote.
The newest exemptions are nice, but critics are still fuming over the realization they took a year to kick in and are only good for two years. Repair and research advocates claim that the process for changing copyright law is unnecessarily expensive and onerous, too. “The one year delay … was not only a violation of law, not only pointless, but actively counterproductive,” the EFF wrote. “DMCA 1201, and the rule making process, create unconstitutional restraints on speech and need to be struck down by a court or fixed by Congress.”
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