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DRM Technology

US Copyright Office Grants DMCA Exemption For Ice Cream Machines (extremetech.com) 76

Posted by BeauHD from the nothing-vanilla-about-this-victory dept.
The Librarian of Congress has granted a DMCA exemption allowing independent repair of soft-serve machines, addressing the persistent issue of restricted repairs on McDonald's frequently malfunctioning machines. ExtremeTech reports: Section 1201 of the DMCA makes it illegal to bypass a digital lock protecting copyrighted work. That can be the DRM on a video file you download from iTunes, the carrier locks that prevent you from using a phone on other networks, or even the software running a McDonald's soft serve machine that refuses to accept third-party repairs. By locking down a product with DRM, companies can dictate when and how items are repaired under threat of legal consequences. This is an ongoing issue for people who want to fix all those busted ice cream machines.

Earlier this year, iFixit and Public Knowledge submitted their request for an exemption that would have covered a wide swath of industrial equipment. The request included everything from building management software to the aforementioned ice cream machines. Unfortunately, the Copyright Office was unconvinced on some of these points. However, the Librarian of Congress must be just as sick as the rest of us to hear the ice cream machine is broken. The office granted an exception for "retail-level food preparation equipment."

That means restaurant owners and independent repair professionals will be able to bypass the software locks that keep kitchen machinery offline until the "right" repair services get involved. This should lower prices and speed up repairs in such situations. Public Knowledge and iFixit express disappointment that the wider expansion was not granted, but they're still celebrating with some delicious puns (and probably ice cream). "There's nothing vanilla about this victory; an exemption for retail-level commercial food preparation equipment will spark a flurry of third-party repair activity and enable businesses to better serve their customers," said Meredith Rose, Senior Policy Counsel at Public Knowledge.

US Copyright Office Grants DMCA Exemption For Ice Cream Machines More | Reply

US Copyright Office Grants DMCA Exemption For Ice Cream Machines

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  • OK, cool, but what about the John Deere tractors?

  • Good, but it won't actually fix anything (Score:3)

    by alvinrod ( 889928 ) on Friday October 25, 2024 @06:08PM (#64894697)
    This is good, but the ice cream machine will still be "broken" because employees already cleaned it earlier and don't want to have to again just so one person can have an ice cream.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by lsllll ( 830002 )

      A can completely relate to this. Forget about getting an ice cream cone from McDonald's after 8:00 PM. Never been able to do it, and that is the ONLY thing I'd go to a McDonald's for.

    • Unfortunately a recession might help this. I remember during the Great Recession our local mcd had employees that all seemed overqualified - intelligent, well-groomed millennials that seemed like likely college graduates. Then the job market came back and the quality of service at McD's plummeted while employee pay and prices shot up, as the overqualified former employees moved on to greater things. So, really, things going too well at McD is a pretty sure sign that the world at large is not going so wel

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mysidia ( 191772 )

      I'd say that is not how it works. The processes involved take so much time that they Can't get the machine back up in less than 4 hours after it shut itself down, and not even if they wanted.

      Their machines decides when it needs sanitization or cleaning, and when it's needed it shuts down and goes into a self-sanitization Heat cycle That applies high temperatures to all the product to Re-pasteurize all the dairy in the machine that requires 4 hours and cannot be interrupted. Then every 2 weeks there

      • I think it's very fitting that Taylor uses a very prominent crown as their logo. "Do what we command you to, or else!"
    • No, it will still be broken because in three years the exemption will expire. Because of that no-one is going to start offering repair services / products because of what McDonald's corporate did to kill the original market in it's infancy.

      We need a permanent law to even try justifying it. Otherwise the multimillion dollar corporate mulitnational is just going to wait out the temporary decrease in costs. No need to adjust to a bubble when you've got the cash to let the machines sit there completely unusab

    • It would be better to revoke the DMCA now.

  • What the hell is going on?

    Did Kamala work at McDonalds growing up?

    Trump did 15 minutes at a McDonalds Fry station and drive-thru window.

    Dozens of people are getting sick from tainted/questionable meat.

    And now we're talking about carving out an exception to the DCMA for Ice Cream machines in McDonalds?

    What's going on with McDonalds?

    • Welcome to the USA, home of the lowest common denominator.

    • Its cause LoC can do exceptions like this. They can't do anything about the FDA being underfunded, or the IRS not having enough people. They can rule on DMCA issues however. Especially how well documented this one is. I mean seriously, from GitHub repos, to multiple full on lawsuits. Then throw in money from McDonalds to get this issue though.

      I mean seriously, you buy one of these machines, your not even allowed to replace the electronics. Just saying "Ok lets just bypass all the electronics and jus

      • What I don't get is why there wasn't another vendor that could take over or change contracts etc

        That's also well documented. McDonald's corporate owns the equipment and they have a honeydo contract with Taylor to supply the machines.

        Fun fact: McDonald's corporate also owns the land that the franchisee's building is on. So if the franchisee decides to use a different ice cream machine supplier, guess what happens to the land the building is on? *EVIL GRIN*

    • Did Kamala work at McDonalds growing up?

      Kamala Harris has said she worked at McDonalds in college. This has not been confirmed or denied by McDonald's.

      Trump did 15 minutes at a McDonalds Fry station and drive-thru window.

      And Trump in his pettiness is going for his "Nuh-uh. Liar!" moment by saying he "worked" at a McDonald's longer than she has. Mind you, Trump to this day refuses to admit Obama was born in the US. Also he refuses he was wrong about the Central Park Five [wikipedia.org] even after New York City vacated their convictions and settled lawsuits. Trump always tries to reverse Uno every time someone points out another o

      • Did Kamala work at McDonalds growing up?

        Kamala Harris has said she worked at McDonalds in college. This has not been confirmed or denied by McDonald's.

        Yep ... nor anybody else. The franchisee? Anybody who worked alongside her? Anybody? Bueller?

        What a stupid thing to lie about. So yes, Trump had good fun with it ... a good time was had by all.

        Love him or hate him, it was genius.

        • Yep ... nor anybody else. The franchisee? Anybody who worked alongside her? Anybody? Bueller?

          Where did you work 40 years ago and can you prove it? Remember this is 40 years ago in the 1980s. There was no social media to record every aspect of people's lives. Most likely any records would be on paper. Does the franchisee even exist anymore? If they exist why would they keep records from 40 years ago that they don't need to keep? And she's kept in touch with people that she worked with 40 years ago?

          What a stupid thing to lie about. So yes, Trump had good fun with it ... a good time was had by all.

          And you assumed she lied. Why don't you assume Trump lied like he does with everything else. That's ri

          • Okay :) Well, the only thing she (supposedly) has is "joy" ... so (shrug) :D

            I see who is enjoying themselves, and it isn't the person who panics with no teleprompter.

      • Did Kamala work at McDonalds growing up?

        Kamala Harris has said she worked at McDonalds in college. This has not been confirmed or denied by McDonald's.

        Think about it folks. Knowing everything you know about McDonald's 40 years ago, and what computers and networks were like back then, and how much it would cost to retain all that old employee data, and whether or not a document was paper or digital. Also the liabilities for retaining certain documents for too long... It makes a lot more sense than it doesn't that no employment records for Kamala Harris' summer McDonald's job 40 years ago still exist. Desktop PCs with DOS [wikipedia.org] were primitive, storage was miniscu

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by schwit1 ( 797399 )

      You would think they were Boeing with all of the drama.

    • 1. Yes.

      2. Staged photo op because McDonald's wants more tax cuts.

      3. Trump deregulated and is letting meat packers do their own inspections, Biden tried to reverse the rule but got smacked down by a Trump judge.

      4. McDonald's Ice Cream repairs have been a hot topic on /. for years. We're nerds. We eat a lot of fast food.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Sique ( 173459 )
        I'm a nerd, but I neither eat at McDonald's or any other fast food outlet except in some rare cases, and I don't eat ice cream.
    • How about we get rid of that terrible law that only promotes such nonsense to start with?.

    • What the hell is going on?

      Did Kamala work at McDonalds growing up?
      Trump did 15 minutes at a McDonalds Fry station and drive-thru window.

      There's a massive election going on and one of the candidates mentioned the place. Nothing unusual here except there's a massive election going on and one of the candidates mentioned the place.

      Dozens of people are getting sick from tainted/questionable meat.

      Tainted food happens. Several weeks ago some people got sick because someone screwed up in the onion supply chain. While McDonald's was the first massive food chain to get hit, apparently others are impacted as well. Nothing unusual here.

      And now we're talking about carving out an exception to the DCMA for Ice Cream machines in McDonalds?

      This is a thing that's been in the news for years. It's not exclusive to McD

  • The contract is what matters... (Score:3)

    by jonwil ( 467024 ) on Friday October 25, 2024 @06:28PM (#64894753)

    I don't know what the contract between McDonalds and its franchisees says but I wouldn't be surprised if it said something to the effect of "you have to buy this specific machine and you have to get it repaired by Taylor and if you don't do that you will loose your franchise". Assuming it does, what the DMCA or copyright law says doesn't matter.

    • Re:The contract is what matters... (Score:5, Informative)

      by jenningsthecat ( 1525947 ) on Friday October 25, 2024 @07:10PM (#64894831)

      I don't know what the contract between McDonalds and its franchisees says but I wouldn't be surprised if it said something to the effect of "you have to buy this specific machine and you have to get it repaired by Taylor and if you don't do that you will loose your franchise".

      It does, in fact, say exactly that. That information - and a whole lot more - shows up in this interesting video on YouTube

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrDEtSlqJC4

      It's a half-hour of actual, honest-to-goodness investigative journalism. I watched it in its entirety once, and will be happy to watch it again - it's that good.

      • And Taylor either cannot reliably repair these machines, does not have the staff to respond in a timely manner, or is conspiring with McCopCo to ruin the ice cream product marketing.

        • Worse: it is strongly implied that McDonalds corp gets a cut of the service fees. So it is in their best interest for these machines to be broken as their franchisees would have to pay more in service costs. For some franchisees, it is easier to not fix the machine as the repair costs exceed potential sales.
          • This. I mean this sounds like a monopoly somewhere but not sure how you could break it. Maybe a law that says the vender cannot split service fees with a the franchise?
            • More like we'd need a law that says you cannot provide the services for the machines you mandate others use. Nor profit in any way from those services.

              Basically, this is a conspiracy because it effectively bundles products and services that must be purchased by a business owner, and as a side-effect degrades the market for the public. In a real free market, this would quickly result in the ice cream machines being tossed in the nearest dumpster. But because of those private contracts there isn't a free ma

        • And Taylor either cannot ... respond in a timely manner...

          So, you are saying Taylor is not Swift?

  • US Copyright Office Grants DMCA Exemption For Ice Cream Machines

    Literally the previous /. headline:

    Video Game Libraries Lose Legal Appeal To Emulate Physical Game Collections Online

    Goes to show who has lobbying money and who doesn't.

    Rob

    • How about we move to get rid of that DMCA? Surely we can do better than this.
      • As much as I'd love to see it happen, it won't.

        Too much of the US economy is based on digital restrictions at this point. Getting rid of their government mandated shake down process would bankrupt many of these well off companies that can afford to bribe our politicians thanks to said shake downs creating a chilling effect on the market. Thus limiting or destroying their would-be competition.

  • OK, here goes... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by johnnys ( 592333 ) on Friday October 25, 2024 @08:02PM (#64894959)

    1) Farmer growing corn, wheat, et cetera, has John Deere equipment.

    2) Farmer sets up a small stand at the foot of their driveway "selling food directly to the public".

    3) Farmer can NOW claim that the JD tractor, combine, harvester, etc are all used to make food, some of which is sold directly through retail. Now the DMCA no longer applies to JD equipment as the exemption applies.

  • mcdonald's franchise rules will not allow them to be fixed by 3rd party repair.

    • They don't have to know about it, and now the reset devices are legal. The owners can reset them in the night or whatever.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mysidia ( 191772 )

      But now there's a DMCA exception, so the franchise owner could try to circumvent the rule.

      There'd be no way for the McD to know they had someone else modify or repair their machine and circumvent the programming. They can do it while shop is closed, so not even customers or employees would know.

      At least they wouldn't be breaking the law now.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

        But now there's a DMCA exception, so the franchise owner could try to circumvent the rule.

        They could, but is it worth it?

        Because violating the franchise contract could easily cause you to lose your franchise. As in McDonalds will just escort you off the property, close up for the day, and bring in another franchisee to run it. (The closing is because they technically have to fire everyone as their employer is changing). You lose your million dollar franchise fee, McD's likely will bar you from other restaur

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by mysidia ( 191772 )

          Because violating the franchise contract could easily cause you to lose your franchise. As in McDonalds will just escort you off the property,

          The point is they likely won't find out. And it would not be fiscally responsible for the McD corp to terminate a franchise over some triviality even if they do somehow.

          McD could terminate their franchise if they found out, but won't be able to escort a franchisee off their own property. That location would be forced to close down: McDonald's loses a store -- the

  • https://www.404media.co/it-is-... [404media.co]

    From iFixit, "Here’s the catch: while it’s now legal to circumvent the digital locks on these machines, the ruling does not allow us to share or distribute the tools necessary to do so," he said. "This is a major limitation. Most franchise owners and independent repair shops won’t have the technical expertise to create their own unlocking tools from scratch, meaning that while the door to repair has been opened, few will be able to walk through it without s

  • This is why I mounted an ice cream machine on my John Deere tractor.

  • I don't think McD's is particularly stupid, not do I think they're any less merciless than any Enormous Megacorp(tm) when it comes to business dealings with their vendors.

    So why do they accept this prohibitive contract?*

    Yeah yeah 'maintain standards' yadda yadda bullshit. That's nonsense; they have 100 other food product-handling things in their stores, and we haven't heard about any such restrictive "the griddle can only be maintained by X vendor" or "the french fryer can only be serviced by Y" contracts.

  • The situation sounds near-evil, but how can they hand-wave away a law for some but not others? It's law, no?
  • LOC - already starved for funding - will be thoroughly punished for "interfering with free enterprise" while legislators, lobbyists and assorted parasites reap lobbying income from their constituent interests.

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