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.

The organization that represents Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s works has petitioned the U.S. government to restrict the right to repair a religious artifact called an E-Meter. This device is core to Scientology practices but the group argues exemptions allowing device hacking should not apply to equipment restricted to trained users. Experts believe the E-Meter is the targeted device, which the Church says requires specific Scientologist operation. Documentation shows the E-Meter updater software mandates registration, including a membership number, suggesting repair restrictions. The language used in the petition matches stipulations Scientology requires for E-Meter use and purchase agreements. In short, the Church appears to be attempting to prevent independent E-Meter repair or experimentation through copyright exemption restrictions.

    • redcalcium@lemmy.institute
      20·
      1 year ago

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-meter

      Scientologists claim that in the hands of a trained operator, the meter can indicate whether a person has been relieved from the spiritual impediment of past experiences.[42] In accordance with a 1974 federal court order, the Church of Scientology asserts that the E-meter is intended for use only in church-sanctioned auditing sessions; it is not a curative or medical device.[43] The E-meters used by the Church were previously manufactured by Scientologists at their Gold Base facility,[44] but now are manufactured in Hong Kong and Taiwan.[44]

      New religious movement scholar Douglas Cowan writes that Scientologists cannot progress along the Bridge to Total Freedom without an E-meter, and that Hubbard even told Scientologists to buy two E-meters, in the event that one of them fails to operate.[27] According to anthropologist Roy Rappaport, the E-meter is a ritual object, an object that “stand[s] indexically for something intangible”.[50]

      They don’t want their follower to repair the device, they want them to keep buying them. Also, they probably afraid that some of their follower would mod the meter to output high reading to clear the audit. lmao.

      • astraeus@programming.dev
        1·
        1 year ago

        What’s funny is that one reading on a person could be wildly different than the next. If all it is reading is minute charges on a person’s skin, you could just change locations and drastically impact the readings.

        Of course, this is why “highly trained professionals” perform these “audits”

    • Pigeon@beehaw.org
      1·
      1 year ago

      They don’t want to the youtube tear-down videos showing exactly how it doesn’t work, I assume.