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Aviation Instruments Encrypt Engine-Monitor Data
kitplane01 writes "Airplanes engines need to always work, and are monitored by engine monitors. JP Instruments' engine-monitor units have begun to encrypt the data output of its monitors so it can't be read by third-party software. Whether this is to protect itself liability-wise or to discourage competitors is unclear. It seems the company is working on a fix, which may require a fee from users to translate the file format."
It sounds like propriety lock-in to me. There is no other reason to encrypt diagnostic data.
"I'm not impatient. I just hate waiting." - My Dad
Encrypting the data to provide a 'blackbox' is doomed to failure; someone somewhere (outside the US, sad to say) is bound to hack it.
And if format of the stored data can be reverse-engineered (e.g. by decompiling the reader code), the decryption process becomes that much easier.
Although the 'article' sounds like it's designed to sell magazines more than anything else. No links to any of those forums where the users are supposedly up in arms, for example.
If you're not living on the edge, you're just taking up space!
It would seem that JPI is using data integrity as an excuse for DMCA lock in. All they really need for integrity is a signature. Since their are federal regulations about engine overhauls for aircraft, I would think that there is a state interest in the data being accessible, but signed. This is a clear case of the miss-use of encryption.
I remember Congress was looking at legislation to require automakers to make OBDII data more readily available to car owners and independent service shops. Does anyone else know what, if anything, became of that?
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
I think that if one of our (pick your country :) military planes goes down in enemy territory that I don't want said enemy to have access to how well, or poorly the plane may or may not operate in certain circumstances...
Within Doc's context, however, he was making a valid point.
As for the smaller aviation industry, Doc's jibe is still perfectly valid. It was a jibe against the federal government, and it's the federal regulations controlled by federal politicians and influencing the opinions of federal judges which allows the liability lawsuits to decimate any company which may have a chance at competing with the big aviation industry.
So, next time, be more polite and consider what the other person is saying before you drop a ton of poop on them.
fast as fast can be. you'll never catch me.