I spoke to a computer geek mate of mine today and he very sure the copyright laws in the US don't apply here in OZ. With that said anyone here who hacked a puter and fixed it would be OK was far Australian Law is concerned. He mentioned a legal test case which would cover it.
I am sad for any buyers of new equipment in the US that may have to go through this crap
If US copyright laws don't apply in Australia why do we have some of the most restrictive laws regarding movies from the likes of Hollywood? We don't even have fair usage rights as many other countries do. Movies, software, whatever, if we want to use it we have to accept highly restrictive copyright agreements otherwise you can't have it. Sure you may be able to hack the computer on a Deere, Cat etc but I'll bet if you went to get it repaired by an authorised dealer/or other authorised repairer they probably wouldn't be able to/refuse to work on the machine with their diagnostic gear leaving you potentially stranded with an inoperable machine.
It's also not hard for an OEM to place traps through the software/firmware so that if you did try to hack or repair it you trigger the trap immobilising the whole electronics package. Unless you have legislated rights by law, the manufacturers hold all the cards in the long run. The integration of the whole machine engine, trans, hydraulics, HVAC into the ECU on equipment nowadays really makes it hard to hack anyway if you don't have even the most basic info/codes to begin with.
With the current imbalance in favour of the manufacturer over the profit centre, I mean customer, (wry smile), things can only get potentially worse creating a class of machine operating serfs
Sorry to sound so negative but the way it's going doesn't look good to me. It's not like computerisation and networking are intrinsically bad, they have many advantages in control and efficiency. Look at GPS and where we would be if the military didn't allow access to this technology. As a matter of fact GPS is a good example of making a technology open and accessible to all and not excessively locked down.
Needless to say most of my machinery and vehicles have no or minimal electronics and I can repair it myself or find a reasonable mechanic who can.
It would be great to open source the software and hardware ECU side of things, though the temptation to bypass emission control would be hard to avoid. Hopefully when we are using battery electric machinery, this gripe will be a thing of the past as the range of issues with control electric motors and their peripherals is much more suited to open source programmers doing a better job than OEMs. At a minimum, give owners the legal right to at least repair to factory specs by providing the necessary info.
Sorry for the lengthy post, I think this issue is going to become bigger though, AusDave