βThis βaccess controlβ rule is supposed to protect against unlawful copying,β said EFF Staff Attorney Kit Walsh. βBut as weβve seen in the recent Volkswagen scandalβwhere VW was caught manipulating smog testsβit can be used instead to hide wrongdoing hidden in computer code.
If they didn't back down, it would be obvious that this was the intent of the DMCA from the beginning -- to indemnify crony firms from their criminal behavior and to make any evidence against them inadmissable. I suspect this "victory" is only against non-connected firms anyways; the protection of ATT will still go on, dollars to donuts.