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+After watching the mini-lecture on the Medical Object Video Project,
+consider what kind of medical object you would like to research further.
+This is an opportunity to start thinking about your final project. You
+should spend time looking at different resources to generate ideas. If
+you already know what medical object you’d like to research, spend time
+looking into the object further and discuss what kind of object from our
+reading it most closely resembles. Your post should be between 250-500
+words and should include links to different websites, embedded video
+content, and other supporting images.
+
+# Medical Devices, the DMCA, and the corporate profit motive
+
+The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) section 1201 makes the
+circumvention of Digital Rights Management (DRM) illegal, even when
+doing so wouldn't violate any other copyright protection.
+The DMCA allows companies like Netflix and Amazon to punish piracy of
+the movies and television they stream, but, [until
+recently](https://gizmodo.com/its-now-legal-to-hack-drm-to-repair-your-own-devices-1830002757),
+it let manufacturers like John Deere prohibit you from repairing your
+own device (like a tractor), and [it lets
+medical device manufacturers like Medtronic prohibit you from testing
+their security](https://pluralistic.net/2020/08/03/turnkey-authoritarianism/#minimed)
+or repair their ventilators without [requiring an overpriced,
+unavailable Medtronic mechanic come type in a special
+code](https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/10/flintstone-delano-roosevelt/#medtronic-again).
+It's ``felonizing contempt of business model,'' as [consumer advocate
+Cory Doctorow puts it](https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/24/1201-v-dl-youtube/).
+
+[IMAGE: An xkcd comic about the DMCA. CAPTION: While not as draconian as
+this comic portrays it, the DMCA has empowered groups like the MPAA and
+RIAA to enforce private contracts in order to forward profit motives,
+very often in a way detrimental to the consumer. SRC:
+https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/1337_part_4.png]
+
+But these problems aren't exclusive to the DMCA.
+The DMCA is just one way in which megacorps, often with monopoly or
+oligopoly status, maintain their profits---at the expense of customers.