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Mazda is angry a customer used an API in a manner they couldn't control. You can read the DMCA takedown notice here.

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[-] Uglyhead@lemmy.world 255 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Just start charging exorbitant amounts of money for every API call; problem solved! —Spez

(Also: Fuck Spez)

[-] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 18 points 1 year ago

Sadly it would end the same like with reddit or netflix: The loss due to the amount of pissed-off and leaving customers is obviously way less than the gain due to the ignorant or root-problem-agnostics. Makes me a sad panda...

[-] jman6495@lemmy.ml 140 points 1 year ago

This will be over soon. When the EU's Data Act comes into force, car manufacturers will be obliged to allow access to vehicle data.

[-] AdamEatsAss@lemmy.world 77 points 1 year ago

Also isn't it Mazda's fault for creating an API that anyone can access and get information from? Someone in Mazda IT is probably frantically looking for the email chain where he was told to "just make it public" so our outside analysts can use it.

[-] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 22 points 1 year ago

I think yes, assuming nobody grabbed an API key out of the Mazda app or something.

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[-] rebelsimile@sh.itjust.works 113 points 1 year ago

I didn’t really get it until I read the article (shut up 😃), but it seems pretty clear that Mazda’s primary concern here appears to be access to this API through Home Assistant cutting off future (maybe current) owners’ requirement to subscribe to their app for features.

[-] rem26_art@kbin.social 89 points 1 year ago

man, remember when you could buy a car and it wasnt connected to the internet?

[-] lolcatnip@reddthat.com 61 points 1 year ago

Remember when you could buy a car and it was yours?

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago

John Deere doesn't

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[-] OrderedChaos@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

Pepperidge farms remembers.

[-] archomrade@midwest.social 46 points 1 year ago

What a load of horse shit.

Just like with hue, and Chromecast, and Android TV, and a million other smart devices, it's perfectly lawful (and IMHO necessary) for individuals to launch their own integrations with their the products they own. People don't need their bullshit "service", and by buying the vehicle they have a legally protected right to alter it and it's software for their own use.

That they bullied this guy into taking down the repo despite what the law protects him to do is disgusting, if not also predictable.

I hope someone with the time and resources goes to the matt with one of these shit companies and make them own up to their exploitative practices.

I for one will be altering my Mazda how I want and sharing my alterations to get around their shit subscription model with everyone I can.

[-] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 37 points 1 year ago

God forbid. Wouldn't want users to find any of this useful in novel ways. Because that never makes a product popular or anything. And Mazda might lose hundreds of dollars or something. Gasp.

[-] nephs@lemmy.world 56 points 1 year ago

DMCA is broken, intellectual property is a scam.

[-] Cethin@lemmy.zip 24 points 1 year ago

It seems to be working exactly as intended. It protects the OP of the rich while not giving a shit about the poor.

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[-] bad_alloc@feddit.de 55 points 1 year ago

I don't get it. People are working for free to add a feature to your product which might move more people to buy said product. Make users who use external features acknowledge some waiver that your company is not responsible for damage. If it turns out to be really good, you can fork it, hire the original inventor and turn it into a paid product. Isn't that a risk-free win? Am I missing something?

[-] ItsMeSpez@lemmy.world 23 points 1 year ago

Most likely they do not appreciate people adding features to their products for free because these are features that could be sold on future models. This is why right to repair is so important.

[-] DemBoSain@midwest.social 11 points 1 year ago

Or, it's something they want you to subscribe to. I bought a Subaru, and only later found out the only way to use remote-start was by subscribing to roadside assistance and using an app on my phone.

On the bright side, I can start my car from anywhere in the world...

[-] stolid_agnostic@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 year ago

They probably want you to pay a subscription for extra features and homeboy went and made it free for life.

[-] elscallr@lemmy.world 40 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Well then, anyone have this code archived? Time to make sure it makes it to torrent networks. The only way we render the DMCA irrelevant is to make it useless.

Make sure to keep the checksums in place.

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[-] AnarchoGravyBoat@kbin.social 37 points 1 year ago

I'll be buying a new car soon. Fuck Mazda.

[-] Fades@lemmy.world 37 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

What a fucking joke. Let me tell you, these car OEMs are fucking SHIT at API development in general. Shit, it's a fuckin miracle when they actually have APIs. A major OEM (won't mention as it's work related for me) just recently published their APIs and MY GOD are they fucking trash, inconsistent, and throw 5xx for fucking any reason (this is absolutely NOT a small or new OEM by any fucking means... Luxury brand)

This is simply a shit company trying to punish people because of their own incompetencies when it comes to API design and management. Oh and just anti-consumer in general, just like how they attack right-to-repair at every fuckin turn possible.

FUCK capitalism, it's fucking broken; instead of ensuring that competition drives innovation we instead get.... LESS control LESS features for MORE across the board (subscriptions, anyone?). Anyone talking about the free market's inherent innovation is a FUCKING GODDAMN MORON

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[-] bitwolf@lemmy.one 36 points 1 year ago

So .. is there a copy of the repo left that we can replicate endlessly?

[-] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 32 points 1 year ago

Should be legally protected and these companies should receive heavy fines for false DMCA claims

[-] woodenskewer@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Call me crazy but you think there'd be some kind of reviewing body that reads dmca claims heard by both parties prior to entering a court room rather than people with money fucking the average person.

[-] notannpc@lemmy.world 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I already thought Mazda sucked and made shit products, so it’s nice that they confirmed it’s not just their products that are mediocre at best, it’s their whole business.

Edit: Turns out my long standing perception of Mazda is woefully incorrect. I could have sworn they had a string of bad reliability issues in the early 2000’s and 2010’s but it turns out that’s just plain wrong. Couldn’t tell you what I was thinking of. Leaving the OG comment to laugh at my mistake.

They can still eat a bag of dicks though for this DMCA abuse though.

[-] 5BC2E7@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

Can you elaborate? All the people I know had good experiences with mazda

[-] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 13 points 1 year ago

Yea, not sure what hes comparing Mazdas to.

As someone who's turned wrenches since the late 70's, Mazda is in my top 3 for reliability: Honda, Toyota, Mazda, in that order.

Every other brand you get to fix the same thing more than once, have weird failures, mixture of Metric and ACU bolts (looking at you American Manufacturers), over-designed systems making trouble-shooting and repair more difficult and costly (like VW tying the door lock ECU to the air conditioning), crappy electrics (Chrysler/Dodge wins on this one, they're almost as bad as as 70's British car with Lucas electrics), weird and problematic mixtures of vendor sources (again, Chrysler, since the days they bought AMC they've continued to have hodge-podge vehicles, like the Chryslers with Mercedes diesel engines, but modified so they don't always use the exact same parts), etc, etc.

I could go on for days listing each manufacturer's pain points.

Far less so with the 3 Japanese listed. For the most part, their vehicles are all their own (some exceptions with Mazda when they were owned by Ford, and Toyota had some GM ties over the years), and even those cars are more Japanese design/engineering/manufacturing than Big 3.

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[-] stolid_agnostic@lemmy.ml 21 points 1 year ago
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[-] autotldr@lemmings.world 17 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Before last week, owners of certain Mazda vehicles who also had a Home Assistant setup could create some handy connections for their car.

In a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice sent to GitHub, Mazda (or an authorized agent) alleges that Rothweiler's integration:

Frequent Home Assistant contributor J. Nick Kolston, or bdraco on GitHub, was the first of many commenters confused by Mazda's code claims.

Reverse-engineering for interoperability, such as exposing the Mazda app's particulars to Home Assistant, could be considered a fair use exception to the DMCA, as explained by the EFF.

Integrations involving other car brands, including Subaru, the Nissan Leaf, and Tesla's Wall Connector, are still present.

"We genuinely believe there is a common ground between us and Mazda when it comes to enabling the owners of their cars to explore the possibilities of their own data," Home Assistant founder Paulus Schoutsen wrote.


The original article contains 523 words, the summary contains 146 words. Saved 72%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[-] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 17 points 1 year ago

Bad bot

In a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) notice sent to GitHub, Mazda (or an authorized agent) alleges that Rothweiler's integration:

Alleges that Rothweiler's integration what? You've cut off an important part of the story.

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[-] BilboBargains@lemmy.world 13 points 1 year ago

This is like sueing someone for knocking on your door. Just lawyers and business vampires tripping over their own dicks.

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this post was submitted on 17 Oct 2023
732 points (100.0% liked)

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