So if they used state specific codes, what happens when the vehicle owner moves to another state? The vehicle owner has to replace their ECU? What if someone is driving in another state and their car breaks down? Also, that would require them to have another model specifically for Massachusetts. I think it's unlikely that a car company would go to that much effort just to spite the other 49 states. Besides, just imagine the PR nightmare it could become. Some TV news station (or news website) will run a story that says "ACME Automotive won't let your mechanic fix your car! More at 11!"

You're describing the current situation. OEM-approved mechanics (dealerships) get full read and write access to your ECU (which is much more than OBD-II), others don't. I've never seen a TV story about it.

What I said was that if Massachusetts forces car companies to publish their access codes, they could circumvent the law by using different codes on Mass vehicles (or otherwise locking them, cryptographically or whatever). OEM-approved mechanics would get the codes for all states (same as now), non-approved mechanics would only get the codes for Massachusetts.

That is the point of this law, they currently "lock you out" by not publishing what those codes mean. I'm pretty sure that what you are suggesting would violate either the current OBD-II legislation or this new law. Additionally, the problem with releasing the key only for cars sold in Massachusetts is that the manufacturer can only know what cars are sold new in Mass, this law would also cover cars sold used.

The poster that I originally replied to said "Similar to other US state laws regarding pollution or safe materials, this will affect us worldwide". While this may be true, I posted an example showing how it wouldn't necessarily affect anyone outside of Massachusetts . What I suggested would allow them to continue doing exactly what they currently do for every car they sell outside of Massachusetts . As for used cars, I doubt that Massachusetts has the jurisdiction to demand the unlock codes for every vehicle sold worldwide. The most I suspect they could do is prevent non-compliant used vehicles from being imported or sold in Mass, similar to California's emissions legislation.

The difference between how California's emissions legislation effects North America and this, is that California has (or had) a dominant economy in the US and that their requirements require hardware changes that would be more expensive to produce on a per-state basis. Defeating this bill would only require a software change. A national bill might be useful, but that seems unlikely to pass.

That's exactly why I'd expect them to have state-specific codes tied to the original sale. The Massachusetts key is publicly available, while the North Dakota key is a tightly held trade secret.

On the Audi/VW side, there is an awesome program called VAG-COM which allows you to view all sorts of parameters, adjust values, read diagnostic codes, etc...almost EVERYTHING that can possibly be accessed or tweaked.

I second the motion that VAG-COM is awesome. However it shouldn't be used to contrast VW/Audi with Volvo, since (to my knowledge) VAG-COM was reverse engineered entirely independently of VW after frustration with VW's use of proprietary codes.

You're right that any mechanic can read the legislated OBD-II codes. However, manufacturers are allowed to use proprietary codes or protocols for anything that isn't emissions related, and it wouldn't be too difficult to lock you out of everything else, if they really wanted to. Reading OBD-II trouble codes is only the tip of the iceberg of what you can do when you have full read and write access to the ECU.

This is very important, because if Ford* needs to release the information needed to repair the Focus* to the state of Massachusetts, they will basically make it available everywhere in the world where Ford sells this car. Similar to other US state laws regarding pollution or safe materials, this will affect us worldwide

Or they'll add a state-specific encryption key needed to unlock the computer for repair work. And they'll only release the key for vehicles sold in Massachusetts.

did you see the size of those Dingo eating birds?

You should see the one that preys on helicopters.

On a side note, I wondered why this picture was suddenly getting so many views. I guess the upgrade from "bird eating" to "man eating" makes the Haast eagle a lot more interesting.

But that gives you about a 50 meter range at best. You would need hundreds of these to cover even a small town.

What do you think the range of a wired utility pole is? Compare the installation and maintenance cost of one WAP on a pole per block, with the cost of hundreds or thousands of meters of cable plus rights-of-way.

Where do you buy your balloons from?

A serial console.

And if you don't want to lug around a laptop (or your modern laptop doesn't have serial), the HP-48G makes a nice terminal device.

[Obligatory Car Analogy]So you don't feel the need to distinguish between a motorcyle and a pickup truck?[/Obligatory Car Analogy]

In the spirit of this article, I have to say that the pickup truck is clearly the best kind of motorcycle because of its superior cargo carrying capacity and cold-weather comfort.

And how do they propose that Limewire prevent sharers from sharing government secrets?

I propose that all governments send Limewire all their secrets to that a filter can be set up. Since this is likely to be a large file, it is probably easiest if they transfer the data by putting it in their publicly shared folder and then allow the filter maintainers to download it from there.

They want free advertising for their photography, but they're afraid that their photos (or modified works) will be attributed to them. They can't have it both ways.

Wow. The President got hit by a car? I hadn't heard about that.

No, the president was eaten by wolves. He was delicious.

They're threatening an american user for doing what is perfectly legal in the US on servers based in the US. Their copyright claims have no merit whatsoever.

I bet that makes Marc Emery feel better.