After a drunken federal employee flew a drone over the White House lawn, the drone’s manufacturer “announced that a new, mandatory firmware update would help users comply with” an FAA regulation that Washington, D.C., is a no-fly zone.
Of course, by “help users comply,” the company – DJI – means that the new firmware will unilaterally disable drones’ ability to fly within the no-fly zone.
From coffee makers to automobiles, Digital Rights Management (DRM) is everywhere, making sure that you don’t use the stuff you bought in any way other than the ways the company you bought it from wants you to – even if those ways vitiate rights you’d otherwise have back in meatspace.
For example, the first sale doctrine allows you to freely alienate anything you bought, and the original seller doesn’t have a say or get any money out of it. Want to sell your copy of “Fifty Shades of Grey” on eBay? No problem.
Horribles on Parade
Which brings us back to drones. While it might be laudable that DJI is taking the initiative to enforce the FAA’s no-fly zone, it sets a dangerous precedent. What if police were able to remotely disable car engines? Or, as the FBI wants, to crack a person’s telephone encryption? Or, as the MPAA wants, to disable the Internet connection of any person who’s remotely suspected of pirating a single movie? Sure, it’s a parade of horribles, but every parade has to start somewhere.
Related Resources:
- How Laws Restricting Tech Actually Expose Us to Greater Harm (Wired)
- EFF Criticises Apple for ‘Outrageous’ Terms in iOS Developer Agreement (The Guardian)
- TGI Fridays’ Mistletoe Drone Cuts Photographer’s Nose (FindLaw’s In House)
- Copyright Settlement Firm Rightscorp Gets Hit with Class Action (FindLaw’s Technologist)
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