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.