John Deere has turned itself into the poster-child for the DMCA, fighting farmers who say they want to fix their own tractors and access their data by saying that doing so violates the 1998 law’s prohibition on bypassing copyright locks.
Deere’s just reiterated that position to a US Copyright Office inquiry on the future of the law, joined by auto manufacturers (but not Tesla) and many other giant corporations, all of them arguing that since the gadgets you buy have software, and since that software is licensed, not sold, you don’t really own any of that stuff. You are a licensee, and you have to use the gadget according to the license terms, which spell out where you have to buy your service, parts, consumables, apps, and so on.
The fact that the DMCA felonizes bypassing copyright locks, combined with the proliferation of copyrighted software in gadgets means that companies can turn their commercial preferences into private laws. Just design your gadget so that using is in any way apart from the official, proscribed way requires breaking a copyright lock. Now, anyone who violates your license terms is also committing a felony, punishable by five years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
For a first offense.
What’s more, security researchers who reveal defects in these gadgets face the same harsh punishment, and routinely self-censor, even when they find potentially life-threatening bugs in medical implants or cars.
John Deere and automakers are using the courts to try to make it illegal for you to modify or repair products you buy without their approval. “… somehow, the notion of actually owning the things you buy has become revolutionary.”
People think coding / debugging means highly concentrated furious typing, but mostly it’s just angrily staring at the screen for long periods of time waiting for the problem to solve itself
When United CEO Oscar Munoz lied about Dr David Dao, slandering the passenger that was beaten unconscious as a direct result of his employees enacting the policies he put in place, he was acting in the knowledge that he would shortly be elevated to the Chairmanship of United’s board of directors.
But the board has canceled that agreement, and instead says that Munoz’s pay, along with that of other executives at United, will be tied to “customer satisfaction.”
Little backstory: I’m playing a game with my boyfriend and a few others who have been really wanting to play D&D for a while. My boyfriend is DM’ing so I’m playing a dragonborn paladin, and on the team is also a half-elf ranger, and a tiefling warlock. Well, after waking up from being dead (long story), we are now in a time when the world is ending, the gods have left, and everything is going to hell in a handbasket. We are led to the last bastion of civilization and we all go our own ways to do our own things. My paladin joins the guard because she just wants to help people, the ranger joins a group that goes out of the safe haven’s walls and scavenges for anything useful, and the warlock decides to do his own thing. This is the story of him doing his own thing.
Warlock: *heads to the druids tower to speak with the head druid who is a plant person* Hey, anything interesting going on here?
Plant person: Actually, I have this potion that I made that I’d be willing to pay you to test out. I have no idea what it does, but I’m fairly certain it’s safe.
Warlock: Works for me. *drinks the potion*
Plant Person: …
Warlock: …
Plant Person: … Well … how do you feel?
Warlock: Well … everything is tinged green … *turns into a deer and has to fight to keep his mental stats*
Plant person: Oh … huh. *takes notes* Um, can you understand me?
Warlock (OOC): I’m gonna fuck with him and pretend I can’t and- are there any plants in here?
DM: You’re in a druid’s tower. Of course there’s plants.
Warlock (OOC): Cool. I’m gonna start eating one.
Plant Person: Oh dear. Well … it should wear off in a few hours …
Warlock (OOC): Okay, now I’m gonna head outside and make my way to the infirmary.
DM: Okay, you make your way down the stairs and head outside, anything else you wanna do?
Warlock (OOC): I’m gonna strut my stuff.
DM (laughing): Roll a charisma check.
Warlock (OOC): *rolls a natural 20*
DM: The people believe that the gods have returned and that you are one of them walking among them. They throw money at your feet and start singing the praises of ‘Deer God’.
Me, the Warlock, and the Ranger (OOC): *laughing uncontrollably*
TL;DR: The warlock, in deer form, was so full of charisma, people started worshiping him as a god and it is now a running joke in our campaign whenever anyone says ‘dear god’ that we are now reminded of ‘Deer God’.
