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In an interesting tale, ars technica investigates why a new garage door would come with both DRM and a DMCA anti-circumvention warning.
Apparently in an effort to stop third party remote controls being used, some sort of DRM was added and a warning made so that anyone who tried to circumvent it would be doing something illegal. That's the theory anyway, but the company that made the door and opener had already lost a court case and subsequent appeals as judges found, just like most people, that DRM is garage door openers were a bit silly.
The whole article is well worth a read for those following the anti-circumvention debate. And it certainly isn't the first time, or the last, that DRM in conjunction with the DMCA is used in an anti-competitive way.
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Apparently in an effort to stop third party remote controls being used, some sort of DRM was added and a warning made so that anyone who tried to circumvent it would be doing something illegal. That's the theory anyway, but the company that made the door and opener had already lost a court case and subsequent appeals as judges found, just like most people, that DRM is garage door openers were a bit silly.
The whole article is well worth a read for those following the anti-circumvention debate. And it certainly isn't the first time, or the last, that DRM in conjunction with the DMCA is used in an anti-competitive way.
More:
