The Fight for the “Right to Repair”
This was a hugely frustrating thing for me recently.<p>I picked up a used Pioneer AVR on eBay a few years ago and had no issues with it until I decided to plug my wife&#x27;s older plasma television in because my main TV decided to take up an unusual smoking habit.  It refused to connect to the new TV, indicating an HDCP error, despite working when plugged directly in to any of the attached devices.  A quick google search yielded the likely culprit: my firmware was out of date.  This model was one version behind but, unfortunately, was one model-year behind the ones that allowed for online updates.  So I called Pioneer and was told they do not provide firmware updates directly to consumers and I could only get a firmware update from an authorized repair center.  Besides the added frustration of having to disconnect the 30 or so cables, cart this thing across town, then come back at a later date to pick it up and plug it all back in, the fee was going to be half of what I had paid for the thing in the first place.  So DRM caused a product I&#x27;m using legally to fail and the simple software fix was not allowed to be applied by me.<p>After following several dead links, I managed to find a forum where someone posted a Dropbox link to the firmware, making me a firmware pirate (aaarr!).  This incredibly technical process that can only be performed at an authorized service center? Extract a file to a USB key, insert said key, turn on device while holding down <i>two</i> buttons and wait until the screen says it&#x27;s done.<p>Pioneer&#x27;s approach here succeeded in making me a &quot;former customer&quot; at some point in the future since the firmware update fixed my problem.