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EFF: DMCA Hinders Exposing More Software Cheats Like Volkswagen's
ideonexus writes: Automakers have argued that the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act makes it unlawful for researchers to review the code controlling their vehicles without the manufacturer's permission, making it extremely difficult to expose software cheats like the one Volkswagen used to fake emissions tests. Arguing that this obfuscation of code goes so far as to endanger lives at times, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) maintains that, "When you entrust your health, safety, or privacy to a device, the law shouldn't punish you for trying to understand how that device works and whether it is trustworthy."
This is by design in the DCMA. Keep people from looking at your code means preventing independent oversight.
But everyone that knows anything about the software industry already knows this.
I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
That is the voters' problem. If they don't vote for a congress that will repeal the DMCA, it simply won't happen.
Voters have a lot of concerns besides DMCA. DMCA was approved by a voice vote, so no one is on record voting either for or against. So who are you going to vote for or against? In general, Democrats tend to be more "pro-IP" because they get big donations from the entertainment industry, and represent almost all the big tech-hubs (Silicon Valley, Seattle, Boston, NYC, etc.). If you really believe that DMCA is more important than military intervention, inequality, human rights, etc. then I suppose you could vote straight Republican, but I doubt if that would make much difference, since none of them have made "Repeal the DMCA!!!" part of their platform.
Pretty basic, don't you think?
No. Even people that care about this issue have no mechanism for expressing that concern through their votes.