I didn't miss the point. I'm afraid the article is right, and it makes me concerned about the future.
The hood of a modern car isn't physically welded shut, but many cars have become so specialized that only a dealer or specialist mechanic can afford the tools to work on them. Any serious tweaking and tuning requires either hacking sensors to lie to the ECU, or a custom, programmable ECU since the factory ECU is a black box.
I want the mainstream to care just a little bit about these things, because if they don't, I won't be able to get products without the hood welded shut. Sure, there will always be specialty hacker-friendly devices, jailbraking and the like, but those are big steps to take for someone just starting to explore. There's no easy gateway drug like discovering the terminal on a Mac.
The hood of a modern car isn't physically welded shut, but many cars have become so specialized that only a dealer or specialist mechanic can afford the tools to work on them. Any serious tweaking and tuning requires either hacking sensors to lie to the ECU, or a custom, programmable ECU since the factory ECU is a black box.
I want the mainstream to care just a little bit about these things, because if they don't, I won't be able to get products without the hood welded shut. Sure, there will always be specialty hacker-friendly devices, jailbraking and the like, but those are big steps to take for someone just starting to explore. There's no easy gateway drug like discovering the terminal on a Mac.