The amount of software onboard cars has been exponentially increasing as technology and connectivity provide everything from vehicle-to-vehicle communication to Facebook feeds. To quote what has now become a cliché in connected car circles, it's likely that your next new vehicle will have more lines of code than the Space Shuttle.
Kyle Wiens pointed out in a recent Wired opinion piece that the tractor maker is potentially plowing a path for car companies—and a slippery legal slope—in regard to vehicle ownership vis-a-via vehicle software. Wiens, the co-founder and CEO of iFixit, an online repair community and parts retailer that promotes open-source repair manuals, approaches the issue from a right-to-repair/right-to-hack angle, and his theory that car companies will use the same tactic as John Deere is a bit of a stretch.
But he notes that a range of product manufacturers recently submitted comments to the Copyright Office that are similar to John Deere's as part of an inquiry into the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Wiens writes that the 1998 law "governs the blurry line between software and hardware" ownership rights, and that the Copyright Office will decide in July which products consumers can repair and hack after reviewing submitted comments and holding a hearing. He believes that the Copyright Office's decision could help determine if John Deere's definition of ownership in relation to software could set a precedent.
To support his argument, Wiens added that various manufacturers have turned to the DMCA over the last 20 years to argue that consumers don't own the software that run on the products they own. In recent years, some have used the DMCA to prevent owners from modifying the programming on those products, even though they own them outright. He also points out that a trade group representing automakers has made a similar case to the Copyright Office, and General Motors told the agency that proponents of copyright reform mistakenly "conflate ownership of a vehicle with ownership of the underlying computer software in a vehicle."
I don't know the last time you've read the owner's manual of a modern car. If you have, you would see pages upon pages of End User Licensing Agreements (EULAs) covering everything from a car's Gracenote music-identifying database to satellite radio technology. Of course, a car owner doesn't own that software, even though it's part and parcel of the vehicle they bought.
I don't own a John Deere tractor, but the company's claim over vehicle ownership via software is likely out in left field and probably won't fly. But as cars become more software dependent, let's hope that it stays that way.