Tweak In Copyright Law Will Allow Tinkering With Car Software

Volkswagen aside, a number of constituencies have their own reasons for wanting to modify car software. So called “white-hat” hackers want to get into the code in order to expose security flaws. Another big group of what used to be called gear heads want to boost engine performance or mileage, adaptations that almost always result in higher pollution emissions (although one company claims it can reprogram car computers to have it both ways). Recently, automobile software tinkerers of whatever stripe or motive got a boost, when the Library of Congress, which oversees the U.S. Copyright Office, approved new exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Car manufacturers and the EPA are not pleased.