DMCA Exemptions Don't Matter 146
sbma44 followed up to the recent news that
jailbreaking iPhones is now legal with an article about DMCA exemptions. He says
"The American Prospect has an article up that argues that focus on specific DMCA exemptions is silly, the practical upshot is about zero, and the underlying law remains as rotten as ever."
Re:Screw CSS (Score:3, Informative)
The author is arguing that the DMCA legislates to private citizens the disallowed behaviors that they have with technology devices that they have purchased themselves which may be necessary to simply use the device. The author disagrees with the premise that there should be laws that dictate to private citizens what they can do with their own technology. The final line in the article sums that point up pretty well:
"The exemptions are fine; they hardly matter. It's the fact that we need them at all that's the problem."
Re:Much More To The Point (Score:3, Informative)
You sue for false advertising... "Own it Today!!!"
Re:There is a practical upshot (Score:3, Informative)
Um, no.
While you have a right to jailbreak your phone, or break CSS on your movie (for certain purposes), it is not clear that you have the right to distribute tools to allow others to do the same. If you do this openly you might ultimately prevail in court, but you should definitely plan on being sued, because this issue has not been settled.
Re:Screw CSS (Score:1, Informative)
People keep saying this, but in practice, doing so would turn into a Magnuson Moss class action faster than you can say "What warranty terms?"
Re:Screw CSS (Score:5, Informative)
Unless you're putting together movie clips for commentary, you're still not allowed to break CSS. The library of Congress didn't say you're allowed to break DRM for any fair-use purpose, they said you can break it in order to accomplish the following activities
You'll note that backing up your movies or shifting the media of your movies is conspicuously absent.
Re:Screw CSS (Score:3, Informative)
Yes, but not being punished for sending fake DMCA takedown notices is bad.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100323/1915138686.shtml [techdirt.com]