Itâs not clear when General Electric started boobytraping appliances with DRM. I first encountered it in January when Shane Morris tweeted about his fridge refusing to accept the $19 generic filter he replaced the GE $55 filter with.
https://twitter.com/IamShaneMorris/status/1220367934947758080
The fridges use an RFID detector to distinguish original GE filters from generic replacements, and engage in lots of anti-owner trickery, like memorizing the IDs of previously used filters and refusing to accept them.
https://bbs.boingboing.net/t/unauthorized-charcoal-ge-fridges-wont-dispense-ice-or-water-unless-your-filter-authenticates-as-an-official-55-component/159552/41
Morris isnât the only one ourtaged that his fridge is plotting against him. One (anonymous) owner was so offended that they created a site dedicated to warning off potential buyers and explaining to other suckers how to bypass GEâs lockouts.
https://gefiltergate.com/
Thereâs a good reason for the anonymity. Under Sec 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, showing how to bypass an âaccess controlâ to a copyrighted work (eg RFID-detecting code in the fridge) is a potential felony, carrying a 5-year prison sentence and a $500k fine.
This is quite the moral hazard. Manufacturers have learned that if they design their products so that any use that hurts their shareholders (like buying third party parts) requires bypassing DRM, it becomes a felony to use your own property to your own advantage.
Which is why weâve seen DRM creep into all manner of devices, from insulin pumps to tractors to car engines to Iphone screens. âFelony contempt of business modelâ is the statute that every monopolist has dreamt of, and with DMCA 1201, they have it in their grasp.
Back in 2011, I wrote a short story about this for MIT Tech Reviewâs first sf anthology, called âThe Brave Little Toasterâ (in tribute to Tom Disch).
https://craphound.com/news/2011/09/28/the-brave-little-toaster-from-trsf/
The issue only got worse, and so last year I published âUnauthorized Breadâ as part of my collection âRadicalizedâ (itâs being turned into a TV show by Topic):
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/
The metastasis of DRM into every product category shows that when business apologists talk about the sanctity of property, they mean the sanctity of CORPORATE property.
If the manufacturer gets to override your decisions about the things you buy - and felonize any attempt to wrest control back - they property ceases to exist. We become tenants of our devices, not owners.
Itâs digital feudalism, in which an elite owns all the property and we get to use it in ways they proscribe. The difference is that today, our aristocracy isnât even human.
Itâs the immortal, remorseless colony organism called the Limited Liability Corporation, to which we are mere inconvenient gut flora.
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