If you buy a computer, this has never been true. You only get a license to use the software that comes with it and not complete freedom to do what you want. For example, you can&#x27;t copy Windows off your computer on to your friend&#x27;s. You&#x27;re even restricted in making backup copies for yourself. We&#x27;ve been happy to accept that restriction since the invention of copyright. A guy in his basement with no connection to the outside world has always been able to break the law by pressing the wrong sequence of keys on his computer. DRM circumvention law is just an extension of those restrictions, not a quantitatively new thing.<p>So I think we already call this &quot;selling a computer&quot; or &quot;selling a CD&quot; or &quot;selling a phone&quot; and should get used to what &quot;selling a welder&quot; seems to mean now too.<p>I do kind of wonder what does and doesn&#x27;t count as circumventing though. Can you pull out the transformer and connect your own homemade controller to it? What if you reuse the same power electronics too? What if you also reuse the same computer but put your own software on it? Can you even unplug the handle and plug it into another welder that has different capabilities?