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andy_ppp 6 days ago

Would love it if camera manufacturers were forced to open source their firmware after say 5 years of a camera’s release. The longevity of devices would be vastly improved.

In fact make this all devices with firmware, printers, streamers etc.

can16358p 6 days ago | parent [-]

I don't think forcing a company to open source their IP is a good move, but perhaps there might be some encouragement implemented for opening up their bootloader so the device is more hackable.

But forcing is never a right thing.

names_r_hard 6 days ago | parent [-]

The entire copyright and patent system is built on the principle of forcing the release of IP; it is time delayed in exchange for the legal protections you gain if you opt in to the system. That is the encouragement!

Extending this to enable software access by 3rd parties doesn't feel controversial to me. The core intent of copyright and patent seems to be "when the time limit expires, everyone should be able to use the IP". But in practice you often can't, where hardware with software is concerned.