Copyright law shouldn't keep me from fixing a tractor.

The pay-to-play system of US government is badly broken, Too bad fixing it is also a violation of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act

Once I buy something it belongs to me and I'll do with it as I damned well please.

Maybe some day that will be true again. But for now you'll being singing that in the poor house when representatives of the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, the Entertainment Software Association, and/or the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers sue you into oblivion with the full support of the courts and your elected representatives.

Maybe some day that will be true again. But for now you'll being singing that in the poor house when representatives of the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, the Entertainment Software Association, and/or the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers sue you into oblivion with the full support of the courts and your elected representatives.

I'll do as I please. They can do what they want and I'll disproportionately respond if it becomes necessary.

Maybe some day that will be true again. But for now you'll being singing that in the poor house when representatives of the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, the Entertainment Software Association, and/or the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers sue you into oblivion with the full support of the courts and your elected representatives.

I'll do as I please. They can do what they want and I'll disproportionately respond if it becomes necessary.

Maybe some day that will be true again. But for now you'll being singing that in the poor house when representatives of the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, the Entertainment Software Association, and/or the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers sue you into oblivion with the full support of the courts and your elected representatives.

With a lot of our technology now coming with 'End User License Agreements' that we agree to by opening the package and before ever reading them, I also like to dream that things I buy actually belong to me.

But since I don't have 100% control over that new car, or new phone, I'm just the 'licensed' user.

The funny part is that on tractors at least, the EPA requires the manufacturer to prevent the user from modifying the ECU, because otherwise farmers would just cut the pollution controls off the unit and modify the ECU to ignore them.

Roll your eyes all you want and don't think I'd have any issue with the lawyers. My issue would be with the fuck who graduated from Yale or Harvard with the inaccurate perception that his degree and his connections and his house in the Hamptons would render him unaccountable for the actions taken on his behalf.

These bastards always think it's acceptable for them to fuck with everyone else and so long as they get away with it there's no reason for them to think otherwise.

I hate bullies and I always have. And my hatred and loathing of these cocksuckers isn't tempered in the least just because they have a mahogany paneled office in New York City.

Sure, but it's impotent hatred that you like to talk tough about. Violence like you're talking about only works in the movies.

Here's where the free-market should be left to work its magic. If people don't mind using products like this, then companies operating in this manner will succeed. If this is a wide-spread complaint, the company will alter its practices or go broke.

Except that they all do it, so people don't have a choice. This isn't little mom and pop businesses where one can start offering an alternative. These are huge conglomerates that have the politicians in their pocket and act in unison. There is no free market here.

If they all do it, and everyone hates it, then everyone can simply stop giving them money. I don't see the problem. Consumers have all the power.

And my wife thinks I am crazy because I put in standalone ECU's in my vehicles.

Not that I can do that with all my consumer electronics, but at least I have free reign over my cars.

Yeah, farmers can just stop using tractors and we can all live like it's the 1800's again

They have the power, but not the knowledge about what is going on. They don't know that their computer spies on them, or that the cute app they just downloaded is taking their contact emails and sending them spam, etc. etc. . .

And many of the ones who do, seem to take Andy's position and assume that's 'just the way things are' so they let it happen.