You /4/not Repair Your Car due to Copyright Law

There is the issue of the law on copyright infringement as far as car repairs go. Maybe in the future you won’t be able to do some work on your vehicle in the safety of your garage.

Do you think you are going to repair or transform your car in your garage over the dirty weekend. Well, my friend, think twice! For you might get slapped with a lawsuit due to copyright infringement issues. 

Since today’s latest cars have become virtually computerized four seaters that have a ton of gadgets and gizmos in their internal specs, it goes without saying that many companies are registering their vehicles and don’t want any old mechanic touching what is rightfully their property.

Without the manufacturer’s assent you cannot rehaul a vehicle from the inside out since it would prove to be in violation of the contraptions stuck somewhere in the car’s innards. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act can go so far as disallowing the changeover of the codes fed into the itsy bitsy computers in the cars. Now that is what we call possessiveness taken to its peak point.  

However, those who collect cars as a hobby or amateur mechanics who do all the stuff at home, are exempt from the otherwise stringent laws. It’s a case of curiosity versus the draconian measures of the legal profession.

Every three years or so the copyright office holds a general meeting to decide whether certain activities ought to be exempted from the list of prohibited acts. The next conference is coming up in the midst of next year and all we can do is wait and see what happens when it occurs.

What stupid rules will go out the window and what even more stupider rules will remain intact remains to be seen. It is indeed a sad thing that as civilization progresses and sexual and behavioral freedom is having a no holds barred contest, the laws having to do with meaningless and minor stuff that is irritatingly null and void are being enforced.

It shows that the law is an ass in its own right. What’s the use of implementing laws that nobody is going to follow anyway? The problem seems to be that some of the gadgetry and circuitry can only be handled by an expert and an ordinary run of the mill mechanic or handy man cannot uproot those wires and microchips without mishandling the way the whole thing is arranged. Well, looks like the more complex things become the more complicated are the procedures to fix them if things go wrong. 

Source: AutoBlog via Engadget