this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2024
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This is a nice win for self-repair hardware rights.

For context, see their old video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uCpY3tFTIA

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[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 79 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (4 children)

Ah this bit is sad. The exception only covers bypassing DMCA protections to fix your own stuff not distributing the tooling for it.

It is still a crime for iFixit to sell a tool to fix ice cream machines, and that’s a real shame. The ruling doesn’t change the underlying statute making it illegal to share or sell tools that bypass software locks. This leaves most of the repair work inaccessible to the average person, since the technical barriers remain high. Without these tools, this exemption is largely theoretical for many small businesses that don’t have in-house repair experts.

[–] asdfasdfasdf@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I wonder if someone could invent a new open source machine of some sort along with a tool to fix that, and that tool just happens to also be able to fix the McDonald's ice cream machines?

I mean, you could. The problem becomes "do you have more money and lawyers than McDonald's" to keep pretending it has nothing to do with it in court.

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They should do like the folks selling weed in DC, where they sell you a $200 cookie or sticker and give you a free ounce of weed with your purchase.

[–] vonbaronhans@midwest.social 24 points 2 days ago

Long hard fight.

We take our Ws where we can get them.

[–] JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 14 points 2 days ago

Illegal like sharing pirated media.
It can't be commercialised, but if you just "happen" to find the software somewhere, you are allowed to use it.

[–] uninvitedguest@lemmy.ca 112 points 2 days ago (1 children)

While there is feel good framing, write ups like this just reinforce what a dystopian hell hole we live in. It is depressing.

[–] Paradachshund@lemmy.today 65 points 2 days ago (4 children)

You're not wrong, but I'd still encourage everyone to celebrate the small victories. If we wait for perfection it may never come.

[–] Pika@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

The only Victory I see in my medium term future is leaving the country. The US is fucked 5 ways to sunday and honestly I don't see that recovering any time soon

[–] Benjaben@lemmy.world 20 points 2 days ago (1 children)

"Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the merely good" is one (imo important) way to state it.

[–] unrelatedkeg@lemmy.sdf.org 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

Yes, but framing is important. Saying "Oh look what our perfect corporate buddies over at Taylor let us do even though it's their call" (a huge lie btw.) vs. saying "We finally got this victory, we can finally do part of what we should've never have been unable to do due to corporate greed, thank you Taylor for getting some sense, it seems like your scrooges still have some semblance of a soul left" is a big difference. As always, the truth is somewhere in between these two extremes. However, I'm inclned to lean towards the latter more than the former on the spectrum.

[–] Benjaben@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Oh, tbh I was just commenting the sort of "pithy" way to say what commenter above me was saying. I wasn't actually commenting on the situation, screw McDonalds and Taylor both lol

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 15 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

as long as we are walking forwards, and not backwards or sideways, we can go one step at a time and we will be closer to something better.

[–] T156@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Plus it's still an improvement over the alternative.

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 15 points 2 days ago (1 children)

My ice cream came with bronzer smeared all over the cone last time I went there.

[–] RagingRobot@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago

No extra charge?

[–] clay_pidgin@sh.itjust.works 52 points 2 days ago

That's great, but I'm sure Taylor (ice cream machine manufacturer) will still void your warranty, and McDonald's corporate will still tell you you're required to have Taylor service it. There were blackboxed control bypass devices for these machines that let them run longer and self-clean better, but McDonald's sent out a memo requiring all franchisees to remove them and only allow Taylor to work on those machines.

[–] buzz86us@lemmy.world 29 points 2 days ago (1 children)

McDonald's franchisees being forced to buy one specific problematic ice cream machine is ducked up on it's own. Let them choose what works.

[–] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

The whole situation is ducked IMO.

[–] Speculater@lemmy.world 41 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Sweet! Sub par soft-serve for everyone!

[–] turkalino@lemmy.yachts 33 points 2 days ago (2 children)

It’s not even cheap anymore :(

[–] model_tar_gz@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

Costco’s soft-serve is way better than McD’s and actually is cheap.

[–] unrelatedkeg@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 2 days ago

Was McDonalds ever cheap in the first place?

[–] citrusface@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

Maybe not now since we can hack it

[–] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 13 points 2 days ago

"You are allowed to repair the thing you own"

[–] MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Why would you buy an ice cream machine from McDonalds? They have bland food and cut cola with hygiene problems in their ice machines.

[–] jonne@infosec.pub 16 points 2 days ago

If you run a franchise, you have to get the machine from a specific vendor. That vendor makes a killing charging for their techs to come over to fix those machines. There's some videos on YouTube that explain how the scam works.

[–] BruceTwarzen@lemm.ee 3 points 2 days ago

Why would anyone even eat there?

[–] ContrarianTrail@lemm.ee 4 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I don't think I've ever ordered ice-cream from McDonald's. Not exactly the type of product I'd go to a hamburger joint for.

[–] Pika@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

Their ice cream and McFlurry is used to be really good for the value

I say used to because they more or less butchered the McFlurry in the past 7 years they no longer have the iconic spoons they've removed the packaging replacing it with a slightly smaller packaging and they've increased the cost by about double.

[–] Pieisawesome@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

While McDonald’s ice cream isn’t great, hamburger joints are usually a great spot for ice cream and milkshakes

That's all I used to go there for, but not sure if it's different ice-cream in Europe.

[–] PrettyFlyForAFatGuy@feddit.uk 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

you cant sell/buy a tool but i wonder if you can hire a contractor to build you one.

[–] bitchkat@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

Just transfer ownership to the company that has the tools and lease it back.

[–] locuester@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 days ago

This was exactly what I thought. You could start a staffing company that supplied skilled temp workers with this skill set.

[–] Sho@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Thumbnail isn't even a Mcds unit.

[–] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 days ago

Well they weren't allowed to before