Declan McCullagh[SMTP:declan@well.com] wrote:

no, not a joke. yes, this is clearly an important thing for our congresscritters to be doing.

SENATE COMMERCE, SCIENCE AND TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE Consumer Protection Consumer Affairs, Foreign Commerce, and Tourism Subcommittee hearing on improvement in consumer choice with regard to automobile repair shops. [...]

Actually, this clicks neatly onto cp debates over open vs closed systems, TCPA, DRM, and 'freedom to hack'. Most modern cars are substantially computerized. Diagnosing a problem usually involves hooking up a PC to a port on the car's engine management system, and studying the readouts. The 'problem' that the congresscritters are trying to 'solve' is that some car manufacturers are now closing this interface - they are refusing to document the protocols, and/or encrypting the data. As a result, the manufacturers are able to restrict who has access to this diagnostic data, and are using this power to shut out independent repair shops and other competition to their own dealerships. The meeting is going to discuss whether 'something should be done'. I have no idea what will happen, if anything. So, let's see: * The manufacturers are using DRM technology, including crypto, to restrict access to the data. * If you reverse-engineered the system, the DMCA could get involved (not sure on this one). * The manufacturers are closing the system to outside inspection, and actively working to make it impossible for owners to tinker with or modify their own cars. * There is absolutely no benefit to the car's owner - this is simply large corporationsfiguring out another way to get more revenue. This is essentially 'Palladium for cars'. Peter Trei