Windows Update drivers bricking USB serial chips beloved of hardware hackers

[OneMoar]

for the sake of trolling a soon to be locked thread here is my two cents
this is equivalent to to chevy issuing a firmware update to the cars ECU to prevent "delco" parts from working for anybody that doesn't know delco other wise known as A/C Delco makes a vast chunk of OEM and aftermarket parts such as batterys,alternators,water pumps,brakes,fuel system pretty much everything on the car

whatever the logic its still absurd and was bad move

 

[Frick]

All I've learned is that car analogies are useless.

 

[FX-GMC]

for the sake of trolling a soon to be locked thread here is my two cents
this is equivalent to to ford or chevy issuing a firmware update to the cars ECU to prevent "delco" parts from working for anybody that doesn't know delco other wise known as A/C Delco makes a vast chunk of OEM and aftermarket parts such as batterys,alternators,water pumps,brakes,fuel system pretty much everything on the car

whatever the logic its still absurd and was bad move

A/C Delco makes GM OEM parts.....last I looked Ford wan't part of GM.

 

[TheMailMan78]

A/C Delco makes GM OEM parts.....last I looked Ford wan't part of GM.

QUIET! Would you interrupt Churchill giving a speech after the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor during World War 1?

 

[eidairaman1]

Ac Delco, Delphi, Motocraft, Autolite, mopar lmao

 

[FordGT90Concept]

QUIET! Would you interrupt Churchill giving a speech after the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor during World War 1?

Probably. Heckling is popular these days.

 

[twilyth]

My knee-jerk reaction is to not like when the consumer gets screwed. At the same time, FTDI could either have made an innocent mistake or been protecting their IP/reputation. Either way, FTDI is completely free of culpability. No matter what you think/believe, the reality is that legally FTDI is free from sin. arguments to the contrary are easily answered with the question "can you prove it?" As nothing here can be proven to have the intent to damage their property, the proposition that FTDI is seriously in any trouble is laughable. Even the US's legal system has recognized that fast food isn't culpable for people getting fat. FTDI, likewise, isn't guilty for their firmware temporarily bricking cloned hardware illegally using their firmware for its operations.

For anyone who's interested, legal intent is something different from what most people would consider intent. More specifically, you don't always need to show actual intent. Constructive intent is often sufficient. Constructive intent is a term of art that means that you are deemed to have intended a particular result even if in fact you didn't. From the legal dictionary definition of 'constructive.'

That which exists, not in fact, but as a result of the operation of law. That which takes on a character as a consequence of the way it is treated by a rule or policy of law, as opposed to its actual character.

For example, constructive knowledge is notice of a fact that a person is presumed by law to have, regardless of whether he or she actually does, since such knowledge is obtainable by the exercise of reasonable care.

For example, possession of the key to a safe-deposit box is constructive possession of the contents of the box since the key gives its holder power and control over the contents.

It's difficult to prove actual intent in many situations but courts don't hesitate to imply the necessary intent from the facts and circumstances. So if you act in a way consistent with a particular result, you can be deemed to have intended that result.

That's the situation with FTDI. If they are deemed to have intended to brick non-FTDI chips in an effort to protect their IP, then I think that will be considered a form of 'self-help' that I seriously doubt any court will sanction.

One new form of self-help that poses interesting problems is self-help by providers of computer software. Businesses in the United States that use computers have become dependent on computer software. Sometimes when disputes have arisen between the buyer of software and the software provider, software providers have disabled the buyer's software from a remote location. In one case a software supplier called Logisticon entered into a contract with Revlon Group to provide it with computer software. After a dispute arose between the two parties, Logisticon accessed Revlon's software system and disabled it, causing Revlon to suffer $20 million in product delivery delays. Revlon brought suit against Logisticon, alleging that Logisticon had violated the contract and that it had misappropriated Revlon's trade secrets. The two parties settled the suit out of court, and the terms of the settlement remain undisclosed.

Self-help measures are controversial because they amount to taking the law into one's own hands. Opponents of self-help laws argue that they encourage unethical and sometimes illegal practices by creditors and that they diminish public respect for the law. Proponents counter that self-help, if performed peaceably, is a valuable feature of the justice system because it gives creditors an opportunity to alleviate losses and keeps small, simple disputes from glutting the court system.

 

[eidairaman1]

This topics ran its course of circles i stated it before companies reverse engineering tech or not asking ftdi to use it are wrong by ethical and legal reasons.

Unsub

 

[95Viper]

QUIET! Would you interrupt Churchill giving a speech after the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor during World War 1?

Nope, would not interrupt him. He must had foreseen the future in the trenches of France at that time or found a way to time travel...

 

[Tatty_Two]

sssshhhhhh, it's time to go home, case closed