IAMA: Fix and Jailbreak All the Things, w/ Cory Doctorow (noted author and prolific activist) Kyle Wiens (iFixit Co-Founder & CEO), Kit Walsh (EFF Senior Staff Attorney), and Jay Freeman the developer of Cydia, the alternative to the Apple App store for jailbroken iPhones.

Electronics repair creates 150 (middle class, on-shore, local) jobs per ton of e–waste, while recycling creates a mere 15. We’re asking the Copyright Office for permission to bypass DRM to fix a wide variety of electronics, and also for the right to jailbreak the Internet of Things to install your own firmware

Every three years, the Copyright Office asks America to explain just how badly our lives are being messed up by DRM and every three years, we give 'em an earful.

When Congress enacted the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) in 1998, they enshrined an “anti-circumvention” rule into law. Section 1201 of the DMCA bans breaking or bypassing DRM, or arguably even talking about flaws in systems that have DRM, on the grounds that doing so might help someone find a way around it.

Twenty years ago, Congress was thinking of scrambled cable television channels and encrypted DVDs – copyrighted entertainment products. But “software' is a copyrighted work subject to the ban on circumvention, too.

Today, manufacturers of anything with embedded software can take advantage of DMCA 1201 by designing their products so that you have to break DRM to use it in ways they don't like. For example, DRM can be used to prevent independent repair shops from accessing diagnostic information, to lock out third-party replacement parts, or to install or uninstall apps of your choice.

…Which brings us to these triennial hearings.

Every three years, we get to ask the Copyright Office for limited exemptions to DMCA 1201, presenting evidence that Americans' legitimate activities are being interfered with by DRM and asking for the right to undertake those activities.

In previous years, we’ve won the right to jailbreak your phones and tablets, to rip DVDs and Blu–rays to make certain fair use remixes and criticism, to preserve abandoned video-games when the authentication servers shut down, the right to conduct and publish security research, and the right to fix your car.

This year, we're asking for these to be renewed, and demanding more:

So, Ask Us Anything!

— Cory (/u/Doctorow), Kyle (/u/kwiens), Kit (/u/KitEFF) and Jay (/u/Saurik)

Cory’s Proof and Kyle’s Proof

Kit Walsh (@KitEFF) is a Senior Staff Attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation. In 2015 she led the charge to win your right to repair your cars, and at next week's Copyright Office hearing she'll be arguing for your right to repair all the devices in your life

Jay Freeman (@saurik) is the developer of Cydia, the alternative to the Apple App store for jailbroken iPhones. Modelsim se download.