vics ── .✦

so many products have digital locks because it allows the company to invoke section 1201 of the dmca

topics:

digital locks that limit your control over your tech are easy to break, but section 1201 of the digital millennium copyright act makes it a felony to remove them.
- for example, the mechanism that prevents you from downloading apps not in the app store to an iphone, or the mechanism that prevents you from accessing content from certain locations.
these aren’t actual technical barriers; it’s user-hostile limitation that:
- allows companies to sue users and developers for removing locks and using the product in a way that wasn’t intended;
- helps increase switching costs by locking your data and products into someone else’s ecosystem.
not only are digital locks easy to implement, the dcma assures companies that the government will step in on your behalf if someone “misuses” their product.

“It does not matter if anyone’s copyright is violated. It does not matter if any right is violated. The mere act of providing a tool to remove the lock – no matter how benign and beneficial the purpose – triggers criminal and civil liability for your commercial rivals.” (pg. 68)
“historically buying something made it yours to use how you saw fit,” but now everything is a subscription on the internet of shit.

created: 2024-11-17-13-38 ✻ modified: 2026-07-30-13-47 ✻ tags:

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