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Politech is the oldest Internet resource devoted to politics and technology. Launched in 1994 by Declan McCullagh, the mailing list has chronicled the growing intersection of culture, technology, politics, and law. Since 2000, so has the Politech web site.
Previous message: http://www.politechbot.com/p-04300.html --- Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2003 16:15:18 -0500 To: declan@well.com, politech@politechbot.com From: "Robert L. Ellis" <rellis@internet-attorneys.com> Subject: Chipping away at competition Declan, Lexmark's recently-filed DMCA complaint against an aftermarket toner cartridge manufacturer is a seminal (and infamous) event in the evolution of the DMCA, but it's only the camel’s nose in the tent. Yes, there used to be a thing called "competition" in the office supply market. For years we could buy cheap aftermarket toner cartridges for our printers and copiers. Now in my office, for example, have a crappy little digital copier that automatically shuts down when it decides its toner cartridge is empty -- whether it's empty or not. We can't refill it. We can't buy an aftermarket toner. Hell, we can't even shake it and get a few more copies out of it. Our toner cartridge has an encrypted chip in it, so we no longer actually run out of toner, we run out of chip. The machine will work only if we put in a new, "genuine" replacement toner that likewise has an encrypted chip. And guess what -- the "genuine" replacements cost about twice as much as similar toner cartridges for unchipped products. But there is absolutely no reason to think that chipping will stop there. With RFID chips, it’s possible that most consumables and spare parts will eventually be chipped with encrypted RFIDs to completely freeze out aftermarket products. Manufacturers of all types not just printer manufacturers, but auto makers, appliance manufacturers, stapler companies, everything will chip all their items with encrypted code to prevent competition and enforce price fixing. Cars will “reject” windshields and tires that are not “genuine” or "approved" (on-board computers will prevent the car from running) and of course manufacturers will call it a safety, liability, and quality issue. I wouldn’t be surprised if oil and windshield washer fluid eventually come packaged in special chipped cartridges like printer toner now does, preventing the user from pouring in non-"genuine" refills. Coffee makers won't work if unapproved brands of coffee are used. Dishwashers won’t work if unapproved detergent is not used. Light sockets won’t work if unapproved bulbs aren’t used. The initial acquisition of a product will cease to be a purchase, and instead will serve two purposes: (1) to add to the national dossier of information about the purchaser, especially if consumer products start requiring product activation, and (2) to lock in a market for overpriced supplies and parts. The term “disposable printer” has already been coined for a printer that is cheaper than the ink cartridges it uses. Other disposable products are sure to follow, shifting the profit to captive parts and consumable sales. Think it can't happen? What is there to stop it? Just as technical DRM measures were imposed to trump copyright fair use, the DMCA is now being used to trump laws against unfair competition, price-fixing, and deception. - Bob Ellis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Ellis & Venable LLP, Attorneys & Counselors at Law 33 N. High Street, Suite 1000 Columbus OH 43215 USA +1 614-221-2422 voice -5244 fax www.internet-attorneys.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?qÞclan -------------------------------------------------------------------------