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The Librarian of Congress said it was okay to bypass the DMCA lockdown on McDonald's machines and similar machines in all restaurants.
Which is a good thing. But it's not nearly the win that was needed.
The DMCA is the Digital Millennia Copyright Act, passed in 1998, and was used to lock down a variety of technologies to prevent copying, even when people have Fair Use Doctrine rights to make copies. It allows manufacturers to charge exorbitant repair fees, and if the makers are slow to respond to repair calls, well there's FA that the owner/renter/lessee of the equipment can do. They are completely encumbered by the digital lock - it is a felony to bypass it and make repairs on your own.
For example, John Deere has screwed over farmers by charging high prices for repairs and being slow to respond to repair calls, in many cases causing crop loss.
In this specific case regarding McDonald's ice cream machines, I've written about this before. The machine isn't your typical ice cream machine in that it contains a pasteurization component. The store receives its milk, dumps it in, it's pasteurized, then churned. And the machine breaks regularly. AND, like Deere, the company is slow to respond to calls. AND because the machine is locked down under a digital system, it's pretty much impossible for the franchise operator to know what went wrong, much less fix it and clear the codes.
Fans of McDonald's ice cream went to the extreme of putting up web sites that would tell you when a particular location's machine was down so you could reroute and get your frozen dessert elsewhere.
The Librarian of Congress has said this is pretty stupid and carved out an exemption for such machines from the DMCA law. I love this line from the article: "Manufacturers opposed the exemption, but it received support from the Department of Justice Antitrust Division, the Federal Trade Commission, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration."
But here's where it all falls down. The tools needed to bypass the DMCA lockdown are NOT exempted, both the physical and electronic/digital tools. So iFixit can't sell a McDonald's Fixit kit. Theoretically each franchise will have to figure it out for themselves and can't share that information.
But we know that isn't what's going to happen. Forums will pop up and share the information. And get swatted down by the machine's maker. And re-emerge with even more information.
Very short-sighted of the Librarian of Congress to not authorize the tools to effectuate the actual repair process.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/10/us-copyright-office-frees-the-mcflurry-allowing-repair-of-ice-cream-machines/
https://www.404media.co/it-is-now-legal-to-hack-mcflurry-machines-and-medical-devices-to-fix-them/
Which is a good thing. But it's not nearly the win that was needed.
The DMCA is the Digital Millennia Copyright Act, passed in 1998, and was used to lock down a variety of technologies to prevent copying, even when people have Fair Use Doctrine rights to make copies. It allows manufacturers to charge exorbitant repair fees, and if the makers are slow to respond to repair calls, well there's FA that the owner/renter/lessee of the equipment can do. They are completely encumbered by the digital lock - it is a felony to bypass it and make repairs on your own.
For example, John Deere has screwed over farmers by charging high prices for repairs and being slow to respond to repair calls, in many cases causing crop loss.
In this specific case regarding McDonald's ice cream machines, I've written about this before. The machine isn't your typical ice cream machine in that it contains a pasteurization component. The store receives its milk, dumps it in, it's pasteurized, then churned. And the machine breaks regularly. AND, like Deere, the company is slow to respond to calls. AND because the machine is locked down under a digital system, it's pretty much impossible for the franchise operator to know what went wrong, much less fix it and clear the codes.
Fans of McDonald's ice cream went to the extreme of putting up web sites that would tell you when a particular location's machine was down so you could reroute and get your frozen dessert elsewhere.
The Librarian of Congress has said this is pretty stupid and carved out an exemption for such machines from the DMCA law. I love this line from the article: "Manufacturers opposed the exemption, but it received support from the Department of Justice Antitrust Division, the Federal Trade Commission, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration."
But here's where it all falls down. The tools needed to bypass the DMCA lockdown are NOT exempted, both the physical and electronic/digital tools. So iFixit can't sell a McDonald's Fixit kit. Theoretically each franchise will have to figure it out for themselves and can't share that information.
But we know that isn't what's going to happen. Forums will pop up and share the information. And get swatted down by the machine's maker. And re-emerge with even more information.
Very short-sighted of the Librarian of Congress to not authorize the tools to effectuate the actual repair process.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/10/us-copyright-office-frees-the-mcflurry-allowing-repair-of-ice-cream-machines/
https://www.404media.co/it-is-now-legal-to-hack-mcflurry-machines-and-medical-devices-to-fix-them/
