vehicle "hacking": legal, grey area or illegal ?

EEG

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We recently saw notices from an OEM and several related parts suppliers that any hacking or adjustment to components and more broadly electric vehicle parameters is illegal under the US DMCA. We'd seen this years before, but thought this was resolved in favor of qualified researchers, to specifically include vehicle garages that service Teslas as we have been known to do.
Spoke earlier today with colleagues in Germany and they received the same notice but citing a EU Copyright Directive with some language about harm and potential liability for brand damage.

I can't reveal names, though I sure all here know the OEM. Our thought is they are worried about some vehicle flaw being exposed. It's most often the lowest common denominator, trying to sort what an unskilled EV owner might have done to damage their vehicle.
I was stuck recently trying to determine how several controllers and chargers had mysteriously failed. Not here, this is something else. Here it appears this is an OEM worried enough about some alleged activity to possibly show their hand.

German colleagues seem concerned and said they're looking into it. I hate to ask legal counsel to chase this one. Any wisdom on what the law states and what the reality is? USA and/or EU? Were not reverse engineering. We have been known to address programming failures, flaws, faults to improve vehicle performance.
 
EEG said:
We recently saw notices from an OEM and several related parts suppliers that any hacking or adjustment to components and more broadly electric vehicle parameters is illegal under the US DMCA. We'd seen this years before, but thought this was resolved in favor of qualified researchers, to specifically include vehicle garages that service Teslas as we have been known to do.
Spoke earlier today with colleagues in Germany and they received the same notice but citing a EU Copyright Directive with some language about harm and potential liability for brand damage.

I can't reveal names, though I sure all here know the OEM. Our thought is they are worried about some vehicle flaw being exposed. It's most often the lowest common denominator, trying to sort what an unskilled EV owner might have done to damage their vehicle.
I was stuck recently trying to determine how several controllers and chargers had mysteriously failed. Not here, this is something else. Here it appears this is an OEM worried enough about some alleged activity to possibly show their hand.

German colleagues seem concerned and said they're looking into it. I hate to ask legal counsel to chase this one. Any wisdom on what the law states and what the reality is? USA and/or EU? Were not reverse engineering. We have been known to address programming failures, flaws, faults to improve vehicle performance.
The Library Of Congress determines what the exceptions are in the USA I believe. Searching on that and Cory Doctorow or the EFF might turn up some hints, but unless there are exceptions, it's a crazy draconian law.

Sent from my Pixel 4a using Tapatalk

 
This is not a matter of common sense, it is a matter of the law, whether DMCA or the EU's Control Directive. Acting for profit is not a necessary prerequisite to making this illegal.
 
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