Quote:
Originally Posted by KathyJM
"Personally" I don't break the law.
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If you live in the US, you might not be breaking the law. It's a gray area. The problem is it's unclear if Fair Use (DRM stripping for personal use) is trumped by DMCA or not. Also, the DMCA has exceptions to removing the DRM so that could make it legal.
Another issue that muddies the waters is the face that both John Scalzi and Tor authorized the use of the DRM removal tools on the eBook
Redshirts that was written by John Scalzi. It is the first eBook released by Tor that had no DRM but some of the eBook shops (including Amazon) botched that and it was sold with DRM. So on John's blog, he and Tor both authorized the use of the DRM removal tools and a link was posted as to where to get the DRM removal tools. This means that it was authorized by the rights holder to acquire and use the DRM removal tools. So having and using the tools was not illegal. This again makes the issue of DRM removal very unclear.
So please don't say removing DRM is illegal when it very well might not be. It's OK to say you don't remove DRM because it might be illegal. But to outright say you don't remove DRM because it's illegal is wrong since no ruling in a court of law has said for sure the legal status of removing DRM.