[jhowell]

Originally Posted by mattmc

Interesting. So, because all of the files are "DRMed", even if they are not locked to a particular user or device, it would be a violation of...copyright?...to crack them open? I admit I'm not familiar with DMCA and how it applies to DRM and so on. I thought the reason why de-DRMing software can legally exist is because it is "pitched" as being for users who want to convert their purchased book into a different format, to read on another device or something. Like the way BitTorrent is for "sharing files", even if it gets used for piracy.

It may not be a copyright violation to break DRM for public-domain books, but the DMCA is more broad than that.

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Tor Books used to say in the description that the book was DRM free as requested by the publisher. I looked at a few books from Tor and that phrase is no longer in the description, but it is inside the book. If the book says inside that it is DRM free, I don't think it would be a DMCA violation.

Those books are still available to you without DRM, just not in KFX format.

It appears that protection is being applied to all KFX books. The first three bytes in the main file of every KFX book I have checked are 'D', 'R', 'M'. I wouldn't want to try to defend the position that it isn't actual DRM in court.



I have heard enough about the DMCA to be cautious. Some relevant quotes from Wikipedia (highlights mine):

It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or services intended to circumvent measures (commonly known as digital rights management or DRM) that control access to copyrighted works. It also criminalizes the act of circumventing an access control, whether or not there is actual infringement of copyright itself.

The second portion (17 U.S.C. 1201) is often known as the DMCA anti-circumvention provisions. ... The section does not include a fair use exemption from criminality nor a scienter requirement, so criminal liability could attach even unintended circumvention for legitimate purposes.

The DMCA has had an impact on the worldwide cryptography research community, since an argument can be made that any cryptanalytic research violates, or might violate, the DMCA. The arrest of Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov in 2001, for alleged infringement of the DMCA, was a highly publicized example of the law's use to prevent or penalize development of anti-DRM measures. While working for ElcomSoft in Russia, he developed The Advanced eBook Processor, a software application allowing users to strip usage restriction information from restricted e-books, an activity legal in both Russia and the United States. Paradoxically, under the DMCA, it is not legal in the United States to provide such a tool. Sklyarov was arrested in the United States after presenting a speech at DEF CON and subsequently spent nearly a month in jail. The DMCA has also been cited as chilling to legitimate users, such as students of cryptanalysis (including, in a well-known instance, Professor Edward Felten and students at Princeton), and security consultants such as Niels Ferguson, who has declined to publish information about vulnerabilities he discovered in an Intel secure-computing scheme because of his concern about being arrested under the DMCA when he travels to the U.S.

There may be a reason why KFX is currently only available on the most locked down platforms. The DMCA also applies to Amazon's copyrighted software. Delving into how KFX works by examining software could be considered a criminal activity since Amazon has taken steps to protect access to that software. See this article on the same issue related to Volkswagen's misdoings.

This code was shielded from watchdogs’ investigation by the anti-circumvention provision of the DMCA.

Others may do as they wish. I am going to be cautious.