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Old 03-23-2012, 09:00 AM   #22
ApK
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Posts: 7,389
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Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: NJ, USA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AlexBell View Post
This is one of the urban myths which get mindlessly repeated over and over.

It is not illegal to strip DRM for personal use - I challenge anyone to show me case history
Unless someone appointed you Ultimate Judge of All Law, your statement is false, unreasonable and potentially dangerous.

First of all, some countries in Europe make it clearly illegal, and I believe you will find some documentation.

Second, in the US, the DMCA has words in it that say circumventing DRM is illegal, and the Library of Congress has a rule making process to make exemptions to that which clearly shows that exceptions need to be made for individual activities.

It's not a myth, and you cannot say it is NOT illegal in the face of that.

HOWEVER, I think we will see that it is not illegal in the US. If we ever do get a case about such personal use (unlikely, because even if it is illegal, who's going to know or care enough to sue if there was no copyright infringment?), I think we will see stripping DRM for person, non-infringing uses is held as fair use, and I hope we will have rule making or revised legislation that makes this explicitly clear. Also, I think, if it NOT proven to been seen this way, such prohibition is unjust and morally wrong.

But that's just me. The letter of the law is undeniable.

ApK
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