DRM protection got to cat litter

Programmer Jorge Lopez (Jorge Lopez) is very fond of cats. The only unpleasant moment he calls the constant need to remove the used filler - because of the pungent smell. Half a year ago, Jorge fulfilled his long-cherished dream and bought the cat-super-equipped automatic toilet CatGenie, which automatically collects and launders plastic filler for reuse.

The cartridge with cleaning agent lasts for 2-4 months (about $ 350 per year is spent on it). One day, Jorge did not have time to buy a spare cartridge and decided to change the liquid on his own. Here the cat owner waited for an unpleasant surprise. His sincere indignation, he shares a blog on Medium.

Filling the cartridge with plain water, he hoped to stretch a couple of days until he reached the store. But after refilling, to the engineer’s surprise, the cartridge refused to work, and CatGenie continued to squeal in an annoying way, signaling an empty cartridge.
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Jorge López went to the google problem again and found out that the RFID chips that monitor the fluid level are installed in the CatGenie SaniSolution SmartCartridge cartridges. In case the cleaning agent runs out, it is no longer possible to return the device to its working state without reprogramming the chip.

Thus, the intellectual property of the manufacturer is protected, which retains the right to refill cartridges only with its own patented means.

The system works similarly to the same DRM mechanism in ordinary desktop printers. Thanks to DRM, printer manufacturers make most of their profits from selling consumables, and inkjet ink is one of the most expensive liquids on the planet (about $ 4 per milliliter).

“In fact, CatGenie, have you added a rather complicated DRM system to the cat tray?”, The owner of the device says to the manufacturer. He realized, finally, that he was not in reality the owner of this gadget, but only rented it in accordance with the terms of the contract.



Fortunately, on the Internet, we managed to find hackers who have already released the modified CatGenius firmware for hacking cat litter, and also have launched the production of CartridgeGenius DRM emulators.



What is most interesting, according to user reviews, when filling the cartridge with plain water with the installation of a CatGenie DRM emulator works even better than with a proprietary cleaning agent: plastic filler granules lose stickiness and no longer stick to cat hair.