Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaggy
In a sane world there should be nothing wrong with stripping DRM for a use that is already legal under copyright law.
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That's what the recent MGE vs GE ruling seems to say: "The DMCA prohibits only forms of access that would violate or impinge on the protections that the Copyright Act otherwise affords copyright owners." If there's no infringement, there's no DMCA trigger, even for acts the DMCA specifically forbids--they're only forbidden for uses that violate copyright.
But I suspect we'll be a while waiting for a ruling that specifically addresses that issue; lack of lawsuits for "stripped for personal use" means lack of ruling that says "stripping for personal use is okay." Meanwhile, stores get away with declaring that legal acts are not.
(Hm. Is there a law against telling people something is illegal when it's not? Does "fraud" extend to "tell people it's against the law for them to buy it from someone other than you?")