Mazda requires $100+ subscription for remote start after filing DMCA takedown of open source program

AI Transcript

Hey everybody, how's it going?

Hope you're having a lovely day.

Welcome to today's episode of How You're Getting F'd.

I'm your host, Louis Rossman.

On this channel, I've gone over many ways within which when new technology comes out, even though it is better, even though we have new advances that we didn't have before, we have new features, new functionality, one of the problems is that when we used to buy computers and we used to get new technology, we used to own it. When we paid for it, it was ours.

Now, when computers are added to many products that we utilize, they are not ours. If you have a remote start in your car, which is one instance, you used to pay for that key fob, you paid for the car, so it would just work. And nowadays, if you want stuff like this to work, well, sucks to suck.

Mazda is doing something which they started doing several years ago, but it's only now that the trial is starting to end for a lot of people, where if you want to be able to do the remote start in your car, which again, many of you watching this video, you've had this functionality for like 20 years now, you will get a message like this:

Josiah, as a valued member of the Mazda family, we want to inform you that your complimentary three-year trial of Mazda-connected services will expire in 60 days. We understand the importance of a connected driving experience and getting the most out of your 2020 Mazda 3 sedan. To continue receiving the benefit features like remote start, vehicle status and health report, and remote keyless entry, be sure to sign up once future details are provided. Mazda-connected services will be available for $10 a month after the complimentary period ends.

Because everything nowadays is a service. You did not buy a product. You did not pay for hardware. It is not your computer. It is a service.

For those who will say, well, actually it is because you're connecting to their server. It used to be that when you bought something that required a server, like a camera, like an AXS security camera, you could choose to connect to their server, or you could choose to connect to your server. Because we used to have something called client-server architecture, where you as the client could type into the client software the IP address, or the domain name of the server that you wanted to use.

Because I have gray hair, I'm old enough to remember when that was standard, and that was a thing. Now, it's something that they have been upfront about since 2019. Just because they're upfront about it, that they'll have to be happy about it. But there's many ways to deal with this that don't require that you pay a subscription.

For instance, my air conditioner. I could control my air conditioner from anywhere in the world using something called Home Assistant that is running on my home computer. I can adjust the temperature in my home so that before I get in, it's cool. And if I'm leaving, I can make it warmer without having to walk over to the thermostat and without having to tell somebody at home, hey, can you turn down the thermostat? I'm about to come home.

Now, you may think, why does your thermostat have to connect to the internet? It doesn't. It doesn't. The thermostat is only allowed to connect to a Home Assistant virtual machine. That Home Assistant virtual machine is only allowed to connect to the thermostat and the lights that I have outside. I connect in via a VPN, and that particular tunnel VPN is only allowed to connect to the Home Assistant machine. It doesn't even go on the internet, but I can control it from anywhere in the world. It is open source and free.

Now, you may be thinking at this point, well, Lewis, why doesn't somebody simply develop this for Mazda stuff? You're complaining about this. Why don't you build your own? You should make your own system and make something instead of simply complaining on the internet.

Well, you know what happens when I get a schematic on how to fix an Apple product and I teach people how to do it themselves instead of ask them and get their certifications? I get a notice from Kilpatrick and Townsend asking me to take down my video.

You know what happens when somebody does reverse engineer all this stuff so that they can access everything in their own car that they already paid for? They get a DMCA takedown. I went over this already. I did this several months ago. You can see over here, Mazda filed a false DMCA takedown notice to intimidate an open source programmer. And if you click over here, you will see the DMCA takedown notice that was posed to him.

They are claiming, they're going over the idea that I think this was something like an API. What is it? The original copyrighted code is published on the App Store. This guy was probing an API. Like, to mine, like that, yeah, this is not DMCA-able. This is absolute bullshit.

But the point is, this guy just gave up and rolled over immediately. And I don't blame him. I'm not insulting him. If I were an open source programmer and I got like 85 cents in donations over the past three months, do I want to take time away from my full-time job, my family, and my hobbies to deal with Mazda lawyers for the next two years? Probably not.

When people decide, fuck this, I'm going to figure this out on my own. I'm going to figure out how to use the computer in my car, that computer that is being powered by a DCM fuse that is connected to my alternator, that is connected to my battery, that is connected, that is powered by my engine with gas that I put in and I paid for my fucking car.

When I reverse engineer all this shit and figure it out so I can use what I bought and paid for, section 1201 of the DMCA gets said, well, you can't get around the digital lock even though you paid for it. I never hear the ANCAPs and the hardcore libertarians in my comments section when I talk about this to complain about section 1201 of the DMCA. I wish I did more often.

It says it's illegal to break the digital locks on something you own. That's insane. Somebody's going to try and get around this and I hope they do. And if somebody gets around this and they get legal threats, I would hope the community comes to their aid. That's the only way we're going to get rid of this shit.

Somebody has to stand up to it and smart people have been standing up to it. This gentleman right here is a freaking hero. He figured out how to get access to all of this stuff and he was making Home Assistant plugins like these so that I could use an open source distribution called Home Assistant. I could run a little virtual machine of it and I could use it to control all this stuff.

Home Assistant is a beautiful thing. It's great. You may think, I don't want my AC connecting to the internet. I'm fine with my air conditioner doing. I'm high with my AC being limited by my firewall to only connect to Home Assistant. Home Assistant being limited to only connect to my VPN so that I can control this from anywhere in the world and it never goes on the internet. Can't connect to anything. It's mine. I control it.

That's the way technology is supposed to be. That's the way a smart home is supposed to be. That's the way this is supposed to work. I'm supposed to be able to trust it. I'm supposed to be able to understand that because I bought this, I own it. I can do with it as I please as long as I am not harming others.

If you think this is not coming to a car company near you, think again. I drive a Chevy truck. I have a GMC. I have a Silverado. This is never going to be a problem for me. Oh wait. All the General Motors vehicles have computers in them that tell how you drive, collect that data without your consent, and sell it to insurance companies so they can raise your rates.

Every car company is doing stuff like this. If you want to be, well, just don't buy this brand car. You're stupid because you bought this brand car. Those are the simps that make the world worse. That don't realize that everybody's doing it. And when everybody's doing it, does it really matter?

That's it for today. And as always, I hope you learned something. I'll see you all in the next video. Bye now.