Digital locks on your car's software

[California98Civic]

"The same kind of digital locks are now used by carmakers to force consumers into getting repairs at authorized dealers."

Here is the full article, with the "listen" link, from NPR:
Why The Library Of Congress Has A Lock On Your Phone : All Tech Considered : NPR

yrs,
james

[Cobb]

Makes sense to me. They are saying since apple owns the os and itunes on your phone, Nissan owns the programming on your car.

Ive seen you tube videos of guys reprogramming their evos and such cars and completely screw up the engine causing physical damage and costly repairs. Thats not a warranty repair and shouldnt be expected of the dealer to fix. I amsure this is the route they are taking to eliminate it.

Likewise reprogramming to allow higher red lines, mo power output, etc, etc, etc. I dont think hacking a car should be off limits, just that it will void waranty claims if it causes a failure.

[kamesama980]

YAY for media and govt talking about stuff they don't understand...

OBDII was the first really big effort to standardize car computers. It's been updated a few times over the years too. All mfrs are required to follow it and you can get a LOT of info from it. It's just a minimum standard though for monitoring and reporting. Yes, mfrs have a LOT more available above and beyond OBDII. However it's not a matter of having "digital locks" on there, it's more about not releasing the language it's written in. Not to force people to come to dealers but to keep warranty claims down (from people f**king with the computers) and keep competitors from seeing their software. I work for Cummins and have seen some of our software (no I won't share since the current software hasn't been cracked yet) and it really is that way.

Why? because they've been burned before.