Consumers' Rights Given Little Respect
from the respect-what? dept
Dan Gillmor's latest column treads familiar ground around here, talking about how ridiculous it is that technology and entertainment companies think it's okay to tell you it's not legal to change anything on the box you just bought from them. He points out that if a car manufacturer ever told people that, they would revolt. Yet, people seem to accept it when computer and consumer electronics makers do the exact same thing. As an example, he uses the case against Lik-Sang in Hong Kong for selling mod chips for gaming consoles. I understand that online gamers are annoyed at those who use mod-chipped boxes to cheat, but that doesn't change the fact that making it illegal to sell a mod-chip seems to go overboard - especially when there are legitimate uses for a mod chip.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Not Quite
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Let's be clear on our analogies
The point of all of this is that NONE of these restrictions is placed on the consumer by a manufacturer. All of the requirements are created by regulations that indicate what is needed to be a �street legal� vehicle. There is no mandate of a particular manufacturer�s product, or even a technology � anyone is welcome to create an induction system for any car and get it emissions certified.
I think Gillmor is right on with this one. And, bear in mind that the ramifications of operating a modified game console are trivial compared with those of operating a car with, say, modified brakes.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]