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Mazda's $10 subscription for remote start sparks backlash after killing open source workaround via DMCA takedown (www.carscoops.com)

submitted 1 month ago by ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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Mazda recently surprised customers by requiring them to sign up for a subscription in order to keep certain services. Now, notable right-to-repair advocate Louis Rossmann is calling out the brand.

It’s important to clarify that there are two very different types of remote start we’re talking about here. The first type is the one many people are familiar with where you use the key fob to start the vehicle. The second method involves using another device like a smartphone to start the car. In the latter, connected services do the heavy lifting.

Transition to paid services

What is wild is that Mazda used to offer the first option on the fob. Now, it only offers the second kind, where one starts the car via phone through its connected services for a $10 monthly subscription, which comes to $120 a year. Rossmann points out that one individual, Brandon Rorthweiler, developed a workaround in 2023 to enable remote start without Mazda’s subscription fees.

However, according to Ars Technica, Mazda filed a DMCA takedown notice to kill that open-source project. The company claimed it contained code that violated “[Mazda’s] copyright ownership” and used “certain Mazda information, including proprietary API information.”

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[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

There's another angle to this, too. If the cellular modem is easy to replace, it would also be easy to remove, cutting off one of the big reasons why the car manufacturers want it there: data that they can sell.

Which makes this whole topic even more frustrating because that connection is worthwhile for them to have even without the customer paying for the cellular subscription because they are selling the data but Mazda is still greedy enough to want an extra $120 a year for something that could have been included as an afterthought.

[–] PriorityMotif@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You just reminded me that's it's illegal to have a tracking device on someone's car without their knowledge. If you buy a car second hand and they are tracking you , then that's probably against the law.