Mazda is angry a customer used an API in a manner they couldn’t control. You can read the DMCA takedown notice here.
This will be over soon. When the EU’s Data Act comes into force, car manufacturers will be obliged to allow access to vehicle data.
They’ll always find new ways to fuck you over
And then they’ll get sued, when that leads to cars getting hacked. I don’t know if that’s gonna work out in the long run. Car companies are likely to band together to prevent this or make lawful exceptions for themselves in the space.
I don’t get it. People are working for free to add a feature to your product which might move more people to buy said product. Make users who use external features acknowledge some waiver that your company is not responsible for damage. If it turns out to be really good, you can fork it, hire the original inventor and turn it into a paid product. Isn’t that a risk-free win? Am I missing something?
They probably want you to pay a subscription for extra features and homeboy went and made it free for life.
This doesn’t make any sense. API requests are not proprietary.
That doesn’t stop anybody. Just this morning Amazon sent out a wave of C&Ds because people were using their public APIs to access “proprietary data.”
looks sternly at Amazon
Then why is it available?
Because fuck you, that’s why it’s available.
So, they mad b/c of an internal skill issue.
I didn’t really get it until I read the article (shut up 😃), but it seems pretty clear that Mazda’s primary concern here appears to be access to this API through Home Assistant cutting off future (maybe current) owners’ requirement to subscribe to their app for features.
man, remember when you could buy a car and it wasnt connected to the internet?
Remember when you could buy a car and it was yours?
What a load of horse shit.
Just like with hue, and Chromecast, and Android TV, and a million other smart devices, it’s perfectly lawful (and IMHO necessary) for individuals to launch their own integrations with their the products they own. People don’t need their bullshit “service”, and by buying the vehicle they have a legally protected right to alter it and it’s software for their own use.
That they bullied this guy into taking down the repo despite what the law protects him to do is disgusting, if not also predictable.
I hope someone with the time and resources goes to the matt with one of these shit companies and make them own up to their exploitative practices.
I for one will be altering my Mazda how I want and sharing my alterations to get around their shit subscription model with everyone I can.
Never buy Mazda. Gotcha.
I’ll be buying a new car soon. Fuck Mazda.
Should be legally protected and these companies should receive heavy fines for false DMCA claims
