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Cars: hardware or software?

General Motors says your own car may not be entirely owned by you.

Modern technology and the law are running smack into each other at highway speeds.

At a recent copyright hearing, a lawyer for General Motors said that even after you pay off your car — even after you own every last nut, bolt, creak and rattle — GM still owns the software that basically makes modern day cars go.

What, then, are you doing when you buy a car? You’re licensing the software.

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