A group representing L. Ron Hubbard asked the Copyright Office to alter a repair exemption that makes it legal to hack Scientology’s E-Meter—and lots of other electronics, too.

  • MyFairJulia@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Wouldn’t want public to find out that the E-Meter is IIRC just a fancy resistance meter, do we?

    Or how to break the DRM the company introduced just to make sure that the E-Meter cannot be used by everyone. Or that my multimeter is much cooler and has a built-in scope as opposed to their thing.

    • Phanatik@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      Don’t know the first thing about these E-Meters but it’s really funny to me that they think tampering with the device could harm the Church’s reputation and goodwill. I wonder why that would be the case. If Apple doesn’t get a way out, neither does Scientology.

        • _haha_oh_wow_@kbin.social
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          10 months ago

          They’re only considered a religion legally because they illegally infiltrated the IRS and intimidated them into giving them that status. Super messed up, read up on Operation Snow White if you aren’t already familiar.

        • gaael@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          Apple is still not a religion ? They do have enough zealots to qualify :D

          • Jumper775@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            Not necessarily. Religions special privileges are there to separate them from the government, it is to limit interaction between the two bodies. This is ultimately a good thing as it prevents the country/s from becoming a church state and maintain religious freedom. The issue is when a cult or other body strong arms its way to these privileges and then uses its lack of restrictions to exert their will on the country who can’t really do much back.

      • MyFairJulia@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Here’s a video that goes into detail what is inside Mark-Super-7 E-Meter. https://piped.video/watch?v=N2O0oen6E90

        The successor requires an online activation to be used. Unlike my UT81-B multimeter with integrated scope.

        Btw i feel like we should make a mod for the E-Meter to allow users to plug in different probes to use them as proper resistance meters. You know, for the electrically inclined ex-scientologist.

  • BedSharkPal@lemmy.ca
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    10 months ago

    Every once in a while a headline really catches me off guard… This is one of those times.

  • magnetosphere @beehaw.org
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    10 months ago

    They’re believing their own hype. They can relax. This is a non-issue.

    People who aren’t scientologists will be unsurprised to learn that e-meters are pseudoscientific bullshit. People who are scientologists will be too brainwashed to care about trivial things like “facts” and “evidence”.

    They don’t hand e-meters out like candy. You have to be with the organization for a while, and be “trained” to use it before you’re even allowed to buy one. If someone actually owns an e-meter, they’re already a true believer, critic, or just a collector of oddities. The law doesn’t need to be changed to protect scientology, and personally, I don’t think it should be.

    • prole@beehaw.org
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      10 months ago

      People who aren’t scientologists will be unsurprised to learn that e-meters are pseudoscientific bullshit. People who are scientologists will be too brainwashed to care about trivial things like “facts” and “evidence”.

      It’s kind of a self-report in a way. The fact that they’re even making a big deal about it indicates there is something they don’t want members to see. If they had just ignored it, like you say, nobody would have cared on either side lol.

  • AssPennies@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Full article here (wayback machine; the original was partially behind a paywall for me).

    All the scientology malarkey aside, it’s bananas to me that anything electronic is the purview of the US Copyright Office. It’s insane to me that the RIAA/MPAA et. al. lobbies have been so successful in getting the US government to do their bidding.

  • Monkstrosity@lemm.ee
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    10 months ago

    Yeah no that’s not how that works. Else churches could start going around dictating how the Bibles they give out are used? If it’s given or purchased, go fuck yourself, I’m tired of entities trying to claim ownership of things that are no longer physically theirs.