[ForHackernews]

...good for them?

We used to call that competition.

Imagine making this argument with a straight face in any other industry:

"The claim is that Japanese car companies are buying Ford vehicles, and then leasing them to American consumers at cut-rate prices. In return for the cheap cars, the customers are letting the Japanese observe their driving behavior, studying how they use their F-150 and then the Japanese car companies are applying that data to design new vehicles that will directly replace Ford!"

[eigenspace]

I wasn't arguing against the practice, I was clarifying that the weights of these models are not being stolen, and explaining what these companies do to create their models.

[petilon]

> observe their driving behavior

That's not what they are observing, it is the behavior of the engines.

[ForHackernews]

:sigh:

fine, s/observing the way the Ford cars work