Subject: [OT] OpenAuto?
From: Buddha (buddha@gci.net)
Date: Wed Jul 03 2002 - 17:26:49 AKDT
Congress is attempting to open up the proprietary codes used to diagnose
autos so the consumer doesn't have to take the car to the dealer to 'put
out the little red light'.
There's an analogy or MadLib in here somewhere as this story could be
twisted around and applied to M$, Linux, the FSF, and open source...but I
don't have my thinking cap on right now to come up with one.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/2002/06/13/car-computers.htm
Two short blurbs:
"Consumers shouldn't be in a position where the only place they can take
the car is the dealership," said Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., who
introduced legislation Thursday aimed at prying open access to the
codes. "This is anticompetitive, it's anti-small business and it's anti-
consumer. It's a little guy-big guy fight."
"The Wellstone bill would mandate that manufacturers disclose information
needed to diagnose and repair an automobile to the owner, a repair facility
and the Federal Trade Commission. It would ban the FTC from disclosing
any "trade secrets" in the codes."
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2a23 : Wed Jul 03 2002 - 17:25:17 AKDT