Chris Berube

When you are working with this kind of thing.

So if something goes wrong, you know, you can't call John Deere because at this point you are doing something you're not supposed to be doing.

So on top of that, Cory Doctorow says that in a lot of cases, this kind of solution, this hackery solution is probably illegal.

Well, that just drives me crazy.

So why is it illegal?

Well, there's something called a digital lock that is on a lot of these things, and it's a very particular kind of software.

Back in the late 90s, early 2000s, there was concern about ripping DVDs and music piracy, stuff like that.

So back then, record companies and movie studios, they added digital locks to their files.

And in 1998, the U.S.

passed a law that made it illegal to break a digital lock.

And now, this law that was designed for MP3 sharing, it is now being applied to all of these other devices that we use every day.

Well, Roman, I think you may have to take that one up with both parties in Congress in 1998.

Everyone's at fault for that one.

So as you can tell, the sketchy solution, you know, it has some problems.

Obviously, they're not enforcing this law too often, but it's still a thing that exists that is out there.

So they have that option to do that if they catch you with this kind of software.

But is there a more law abiding path?

OK, so in the past couple of years, there has been a movement to pass laws that would limit the power of these big companies.

Right.

And to make sure that as a consumer, we have more ownership over our stuff.