There is a very mixed bag situation on medical device hacking, in that yes, it is definitely possible to cause potentially life threatening situations if one makes modifications the wrong way... On the flip side, is it any better if that mistake is because the proprietary manufacturer doesn't allow fixes that improve the patient's quality of life? Why should the patient need to BEG for problems to be solved, or only be allowed to do things that the provider thinks they should be ALLOWED to do, as opposed to being allowed to at least TRY to do more?
I think that what should be done at a minimum is to allow any programming parameters to be changed, even if the program itself is more thoroughly locked down, or more difficult to modify, while providing a good and accessible set of information and warnings on what they do... I am far from thrilled by the multiple 'Are you SURE?' checkboxes that some proprietary O/S's put you through, but could see some level of that on particularly dangerous parameters.... In terms of the medical device area, I think that it would be VERY good to do something on the line of an open source hardware group for medical devices. I have had a long time interest in trying to make better chairs but have been worried about how to handle the regulatory and liability concerns. Among other things, a collected knowledge base of how to do things without getting into problems with the government bodies dedicated to blocking progress... I don't know if it is related to the gait training program you have been working on, but I know that there at least used to be an effort to create an open hardware version of the electro-stimulation exercise bikes (FES) a few years ago. I found that my injury is such that I don't respond to electro-stim, so I am no longer following the project and don't know it's current status... Given that the best commercial bike is over US$15K, runs on MS Windows, and requires an internet connection to get PERMISSION for you to ride it according to parameters that THEY set, seems like there would be a market for an alternative.... Also I like to point folks at WheelChairDriver.com, as a site where people are doing serious hacking on power chairs, including all the electronics, with some impressive results... ART =========== ORIGINAL MESSAGE ============== Message: 1 Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2016 15:11:03 -0400 From: Aaron E-J <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [libreplanet-discuss] [fsf-community-team] Golden Rule Angle for Libre Software Advocacy Message-ID: <[email protected]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" If an open source device is modified by the end consumer and this consumer does not know what they are doing, in the medical field this can have life threatening consequences. People who do not understand what it means for something to be open source could take a press release about such a scenario and run with it; saying that this is a reason for keeping code a secret. Such a program needs for the devices themselves to be very secure and un-hackable, but for the method by which the devices are made and the source code to be open. There is tremendous potential for a bridge to be formed between the users of the technologies and their development. I was working on a project to develop an open source electrical muscle stimulation device with the initial use going towards the development of a gait retraining system. This is currently on hold, but I would be interested in working with other people in starting an open source medical device organization geared towards developing new devices and advocating for a more libre healthcare system. You can read more details about the device I was developing on my website: otherrealm.org Let me know if you are interested in such an organization or if you know of existing organizations with this focus. ------------------ Arthur Torrey - <[email protected]> -------------------
