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Carmakers Push Forward With Plans To Make Basic Features Subscription Services, Despite Widespread Backlash (www.techdirt.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 36 points 2 years ago (14 children)

Car toys is just gonna take in the bucks. These car manufacturers are thinking they can charge a subscription fee when car toys will plug in a little doohickey they just makes your heated seats work.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (13 children)

    Cartoys will get a dcma notice and be sued into closing.

    They only exist because paid features is still rare. Once real money is on the line, they'll be sued or even jailed like the gaming modchip developers.

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago (12 children)

    I doubt that. If they can put an aftermarket car alarm, remote start, or radio in your car they can put a different module in to enable heated seats. Car manufacturers really do think they're gonna stop this from happening but in reality we already have this for a bunch of car related accessories.

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  • [–] -4 points 2 years ago* (11 children)

    They will encrypt the heaters' connection to the car. Breaking encryption is a dcma violation. Aftermarket can replace the entire seat but that's very expensive.

    Tesla already does this.

    https://insideevs.com/news/680181/hackers-jailbreak-tesla-model-3-unlock-free-heated-rear-seats/

    If anyone sells what the researchers figured out, they can be sued and jailed just like modchip developers have been.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    And I bet I could wire the heated seats to work without even needing to take a Tesla to car toys. Heated seat circuits aren't that complicated. It's a heating element mat, maybe a motor and fan if you have cooled seats as well. You don't need software. You need a toggle switch and a thermistor.

    Also reverse engineering for the purpose of interoperability is protected by the DMCA.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    You could bypass and put your own hardwired switch in. But it wouldn't be integrated into the car's gui.

    reverse engineering for the purpose of interoperability is protected by the DMCA.

    "to the extent any such acts of identification and analysis do not constitute infringement under this title."

    https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1201#

    Modchips makers were sued and jailed. Interoperability didn't apply because they violated the "no commercial use" part of the title.

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    Modchips are an incredibly niche product and therefore much easier to target and shutdown, millions and millions of people will seek out how to break the law to get free heated seats if subscription services become widespread

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  • [–] -4 points 2 years ago

    Modchips went under the radar for years. It wasn't until they became popular (modchips company making millions in profit) that the developers were sued.

    Like car mods right now, as long as it's a few, it isn't worth the hassle because there is no money to take from them. If it becomes big and Cartoys starts selling lots of mod chips that break encryption, they will be sued and possibly jailed.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (5 children)

    Heated seats use a heating element which just needs power and ground. They can't encrypt that.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (4 children)

    Yes you can run your own wire and glue a switch to the console. But it won't work in the car's ui. And I bet everything over 5v for USB is off a computer controlled relay. So you'd have to patch into the high voltage battery and do your own dc to dc conversion.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    Which would be really easy. Who cares about the UI?

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    If it was easy and cheap, everyone would be doing it for all their controls instead of complaining about Tesla's touch screen.

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