Quote:
Originally Posted by Harmon
What "evidence" do you have that stripping DRM from personally owned files is a violation?
|
I base my view on the comments made by the judge in the "RealNetworks, Inc. v. DVD Copy Control Association, Inc." 641 F. Supp. 2d 913 (2009), case.
As you know, this was a case in which RealNetworks sold a program called "RealDVD" which permitted users to make backup copies of DVD, bypassing the content scrambling system (CSS) DRM mechanism of DVDs in order to do so. The DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA) and RealNetworks mutually sued one another over this. The ruling of the court was that RealDVD violated both the anti-circumvention and anti-trafficking provision of the DMCA and breached the CSS licensing agreement with DVD CCA.
The important point as far as we are concerned is that the judge stated that, even though making a backup copy of digital media is a permissible "fair use" activity, it is a violation of the DMCA to circumvent a DRM mechanism in order to so, even if you legitimately own the media involved. ie, what you are permitted to do by fair use is not a "right" to the extent that you're permitted to violate the DMCA's anti-circumvention measures in order to exercise it.
And that is why I believe that removing DRM from eBooks, even eBooks that you've perfectly legitimately bought, is a DMCA violation.