WASHINGTON — Expanding the consumer exemption for auto repair under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a necessity for auto repair professionals, the Auto Care Association (ACA) told the U.S. Copyright Office during an April 10 hearing on the DMCA.
The DMCA exemption currently allows access to encrypted software for car owners only for purposes of repair, according to Aaron Lowe, ACA senior vice president for regulatory and government affairs, who testified at the hearing at Copyright Office headquarters in Washington.
However, said auto repairers must have the DMCA expansion exempted to them, Mr. Lowe said, because car owners often do not have the knowledge or technological capabilities to perform their own repairs.
Companies with expertise in software development should be allowed to access embedded software in order to make repair solutions available to both servicers and consumers, he said.