The US Copyright office just published their 3 yearly update to the US copyright law and they have finally seen some sense and provided some exclusions for the DMCA. This is really big news as finally there is some consumer protection provided.
Citizens in the UK we can only hope for similar sanity at some point. Read on for the details of the exclusions.
The six “classes” now exempt from prosecution under the DMCA are:
1. Defeating a lawfully obtained DVD’s encryption for the sole purpose of short, fair use in an educational setting or for criticism
2. Computer programs that allow you to run lawfully obtained software on your phone that you otherwise would not be able to run aka Jailbreaking to use Google Voice on your iPhone
3. Computer programs that allow you to use your phone on a different network aka Jailbreaking to use your iPhone on T-Mobile
4. Circumventing video game encryption (DRM) for the purposes of legitimate security testing or investigation
5. Cracking computer programs protected by dongles when the dongles become obsolete or are no longer being manufactured
6. Having an ebook be read aloud (ie for the blind) even if that book has controls built into it to prevent that sort of thing.
expect to see editorial content popping up all over the net discussing this.
See here for the Library of congress link.