In the US, legalized hacking of smart devices and on-board computers for the purpose of repair and upgrade

The topic of the “ right to repair ” received one interesting continuation . On October 26, the United States Congress decided to introduce a number of exceptions in copyright law, which would make legal circumvention of DRM security equipment in several cases.

In the United States, copyright protection (DRM), which is used not only to protect content, but to complicate repairs, is governed by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in 1998(DMCA). One of the features of the law is that citizens can file petitions every three years with a request to add exclusions or amendments to the law. In 2018, several enthusiasts and lawyers from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), iFixit, and other organizations took advantage of this opportunity.

As a result of consideration of a new petitionThe US Copyright Office announced new rules on legal circumvention of DRM protection, which will enter into force on October 28, 2018. We are talking about the ability to create a jailbreak (reception or utility to circumvent the restrictions imposed by the manufacturer) for some types of electronic devices. However, only the repairman himself can use it completely legally. The sale of such software is still illegal, and free distribution was in the “gray zone”.

The United States Copyright Office is a structural unit of the Library of Congress, the official US government agency that maintains the registration and registration of copyright in the United States. The bureau is also engaged in the release of the Copyright Catalog, now available in electronic form on the official website of the Bureau.

The updated Bureau's rulebook lists the categories of devices that can be legally hacked. Finally, citizens can unblock smartphones tied to the operator before they are activated. The bureau also expanded the jailbreaking permission adopted in 2015 to smart speakers. We are talking about Amazon Echo, Google Home, Apple HomePod and other assistants who live in smart speakers. In addition to smartphones and home appliances, now bypassing software limitations for repairs is legal for all self-propelled ground vehicles.

The latter is especially important - now you can fully open and officially open a service for tuning and retrofitting vehicles, embedding and / or modifying the elements of automation, autopilot and navigation in them. The issue of data collected by each car with an on-board computer was also resolved separately - now the owner of such a machine has the full right to work with telemetry data himself. Previously, machine manufacturers tried to claim the telemetry data as their own.

- Whose cow?
- State.
- And the milk that she gives?
- Our milk.
- So our calf.

Fortunately, the question of whose milk , who has the right to use the data collected by your machine, has now become clear.

Bypassing DRM protection is allowed if the developer wants to extend the functionality of the device. At the same time, users who download hacking tools from the Internet risk losing the guarantee and their own data. They will have no legal problems. But for distributors of programs for hacking the situation remains unclear.

At the same time, according to the Copyright Office's information, hacking of game consoles, set-top boxes, optical disc players and other devices for consuming media content is still prohibited, illegal copying and piracy of materials protected by copyright will allow. However, the Bureau allowedhack computer games if their developer has ceased to provide the servers necessary for their work or to provide technical support.

A complete list of new changes in the DMCA can be found in the published 22-page document published on the government's website .