Great article and good points. I am not a lawyer (IANAL), but it's my understanding that this would be a violation of Section 1201 of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA), the so-called "anti-circumvention" clause, in the US.
See the
Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) page on the DMCA (the
unintended consequences in particular) for more information. Better yet, make a donation to support the EFF and help fight to preserve your fair use rights as a consumer, which the DMCA is eroding.
This same problem exists with DRM protected music, etc.
Hymn (Hear Your Music aNywhere) is a free tool along the lines of MS .Lit Cracker. It can be used to strip Apple's FairPlay DRM from music purchased from the iTunes Music store so you can preserve and exercise your "fair use" rights. Apple is also using the "anti circumvention" clause as part of its
legal battle against RealNetworks, whose Helix desktop software using "Harmony" technology can strip DRM from iTunes purchased music for subscribers of Real's music download service that make the "switch" from Apple's iTunes Music Store.
These issues are only going to get worse for consumers as DRM is adopted more and more for content delivery, which is a huge untapped market that manufacturers and content providers are pursuing. Content providers wonder why consumers aren't embracing DRM, and this is a prime example. It's not that we're all pirates who want free stuff, it's that honest consumers are the ones that get stuck with higher prices and fewer rights to use the content we purchase the way we want and use it on all of our devices. IMO this is a main strategy Sony is banking on in their content delivery plans, leveraging their control of hardware and content to tie content and hardware to each other, driving sales of both, all using Sony's proprietary formats along the way in attempt to set industry standards and regain their dominance of Consumer Electronics. With their recent acquisition of MGM, they now control over 40-50% of the movies coming out of Hollywood as well as a considerable market share of music with Sony Music and their recent merger with BMG. Sony is now becoming not just a media and consumer electronics giant, they are becoming a media monopoly that could leverage their control of market share and stifle competition.
The DMCA has made it easier for the recording industry and content providers to take away our fair use rights (in the US at least). Other countries are considering similar laws using the DMCA as a model, and incorporating it in
to international trade agreements and copyright laws.
It wasn't too long ago that when you bought a movie, book or album you owned it for life. You could even legitimately pass your purchased content on to friends or family members or even sell it or trade it in. This is unfortunately becoming more and more rare in this digital age.