this post was submitted on 13 Dec 2023
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Polish Hackers Repaired Trains the Manufacturer Artificially Bricked. Now The Train Company Is Threatening Them (www.404media.co)
submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
117 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

In one of the coolest and more outrageous repair stories in quite some time, three white-hat hackers helped a regional rail company in southwest Poland unbrick a train that had been artificially rendered inoperable by the train’s manufacturer after an independent maintenance company worked on it. The train’s manufacturer is now threatening to sue the hackers who were hired by the independent repair company to fix it.

After breaking trains simply because an independent repair shop had worked on them, NEWAG is now demanding that trains fixed by hackers be removed from service.

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[–] [email protected] 93 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Steam engine breaks, you can fix it.

Steam engine with digital circuit breaks, you're a hacker, a pirate. DRM was a mistake.

[–] [email protected] 51 points 10 months ago

But how else could companies make more money off of something you already paid for? Will someone think of the shareholders‽

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 months ago

If you're allowed to do any maintenance you want on the physical components of something you own, then you should be allowed to do any maintenance you want on the software components of something you own.

It's not hacking (in the sense of "unauthorized intrusion") if you own it or have authorization to do it from the owner of it.