It Is Now Legal to Hack McFlurry Machines (and Medical Devices) to Fix Them.

The end of an era - the days without McFlurry are hopefully over. For years, customers of McDonald's, the famous US fast food chain, have received negative responses when asked to order the company's signature ice cream, due to the unfortunately malfunctioning ice cream machine.

With the passage of time, it was discovered that the problem existed due to the physical impossibility of fixing the machine in the absence of a specific technician, sent only and exclusively by the responsible manufacturing company. Over the years, several companies in the industry have learnt that placing digital rights management systems and technical protection measures on their products can be a rather renumerative shortcut.

However, the situation seems to have changed. The US federal government recently introduced a new rule that makes it legal to circumvent software locks on commercial (and other) food equipment for repair purposes. The new exemptions to Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act thus allow these obstacles to be circumvented to enable the diagnosis, maintenance or repair of the equipment.