GM says you don’t own your car, you just license it

Boing Boing – by Cory Doctorow

GM has joined with John Deere in asking the government to confirm that you literally cannot own your car because of the software in its engine.

Like Deere, GM wants to stop the Copyright Office from granting an exemption to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that would allow you to jailbreak the code in your car’s engine so that you can take it to a non-GM mechanic for service, or fix it yourself. By controlling who can service your car, GM can force you to buy only official, expensive parts, protecting its bottom line.  

As Consumerist quips, GM wants you to know that the car in the driveway is “literallynot your father’s Oldsmobile.”

GM’s claim is all about copyright and software code, and it’s the same claim John Deere is making about their tractors. The TL;DR version of the argument goes something like this:

* Cars work because software tells all the parts how to operate

* The software that tells all the parts to operate is customized code

* That code is subject to copyright

* GM owns the copyright on that code and that software

* A modern car cannot run without that software; it is integral to all systems

* Therefore, the purchase or use of that car is a licensing agreement

* And since it is subject to a licensing agreement, GM is the owner and can allow/disallow certain uses or access.

GM: That Car You Bought? We’re Really The Ones Who Own It. [Kate Cox/Consumerist]

http://boingboing.net/2015/05/21/gm-says-you-dont-own-your-ca.html

14 thoughts on “GM says you don’t own your car, you just license it

  1. It looks like the same principle as rain water, it doesn’t belong to you. ( in some states).
    It looks like the same principle as owning your home, even paid off you don’t own your home.
    Imagine if every company says that you don’t own anything, but you paid the item off in full.
    All the fancy little things everyone has, will no longer be theirs to keep.
    Read the writing on the wall sheeple……..wake the FU*k UP

    They have already succeed in taking our liberties away why not go after everything we own..

  2. Well I guess it’s time to buy a good Old Used Car – and stop Rewarding all of these Multinational Theives ….
    Let’s see how they like not Selling any new cars

    1. They’ll have plenty of Chinese to buy their cars as that is where our industry went and now they are using that wealth to come here and replace us. They are communists, they’ll have no problems with not owning their cars. They plan to kill us, not sell us cars.

      1. Not that they actually make cars worth buying. That would be Japan.

        Have a great weekend, Henry & Laura! 🙂

      2. The year after they were bailed out they announced that 70% of their automobile production would be in China.
        Part of their repayment was in stocks that have to reach $58/share just to break even.
        Currently $35.80

  3. Well then, give me my money back scum. Hows that go? possession is 9/10 of the law. Come get it if you dare.

  4. Look at wonderful cars General Motors used to make?

    http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/carsforsale/chevrolet/impala/1705787.html

    Isn’t this a lot better than the PUNK JUNK they are selling us with copyright strings attached? Which could you work on?

    This: http://www.hemmings.com/classifieds/carsforsale/chevrolet/impala/1705787.html

    or this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chevrolet-Impala-LT-Sedan-4-Door-/251945690351?forcerrptr=true&hash=item3aa92224ef&item=251945690351

  5. Well then, in that case, take all of that junk you call “electronic standard technology”, out of there and give me a normal car that I can control and can customize MYSELF because 90% of that shit they have as “Standardized” in cars nowadays, I DON’T need and NEVER will use. Oh wait, then you wouldn’t be able to control us. Yea, I see how it is.

      1. I can’t even go out to do yardwork for one friggin hour. Immediately it starts to rain again. It’s ridiculous.

        1. Hey NC I understand that. However thank God you and yours isn’t floating away.
          Keep your powder dry bro.

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