Communications of the ACM
Abbott Labs Forces Github to Remove Free Blood Glucose Monitoring Tool
Credit: Healthline
Abbott Labs used U.S. copyright law to force Diabettech, a diabetes treatment technology website, to remove from Github technical instructions and code for extracting blood-sugar data from LibreLink, an Abbott app. The Diabettech code has been deleted from Github.
In its takedown notice, Abbott's lawfirm Kirkland & Ellis LLP said that creating a tool that interoperates with the Abbott Freestyle Libre glucose monitor's data is a copyright infringement, because the new code is a derivative work of Abbott's existing product. Also, Kirkland/Abbott claimed that the project violates Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which prohibits bypassing "access controls" for copyrighted works.
Glucose monitors and insulin pumps are, effectively, prostheses: artificial organs that are basically parts of your body. Abbott's position is that they own part of your body and you can only use it in ways that don't upset their shareholders.
From Boing Boing
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