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Auto manufacturers picked up on the 'leasing/licensing' not 'owning' movement from the computer software industry.
NHTSA started making vehicles 'safe' by requiring all sorts of airbags/crumple zones/etc which is very expensive and cuts into mfr profits for every vehicle design change.
And vehicle changes mean new parts sold. No more junkyards full of interchangeable bug spare parts. Every year and variation needs new parts.
They begin to make their big money on the printer ink service instead.
The PIPA/SOPA infringement laws started being used against shops and aftermarket parts to monopolize and capture the entire vertical chain and force consumers into dealerships.
'Connected' software (like GM OnStar) (mandatory 2013?) allows the mfr to change vehicle systems remotely.
And not a peep from the consumers who keep buying them.
Now they decided that quietly installing surveillance software is profitable as long as the customer doesn't know. That's the next thing.
Collecting 'profiles' and 'consumer use data' is a nice way of saying 'spying 24/7'.
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Meanwhile other things are still happening.
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