Quote:
Originally Posted by meepster
Beware: circumvention of DRM on anything, at any time, for any purpose is very much illegal in the US. See the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 1201. Even if you are circumventing the DRM for your own personal use, you are still liable under this law. The software mentioned above is illegal to own and to use.
I think this is a misguided and foolish law; I think it stifles free expression and kills e-book sales; but it is the law. If you do not like it, please please please complain to your local government official.
meepster (yes, I am an attorney; no, the above is not legal advice, and should be used for entertainment purposes only)
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Aah, but the one thing you all have not taken into account is that there is a specific exemption to the DMCA in the US relating to eBooks.
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4. Literary works distributed in ebook format when all existing ebook editions of the work (including digital text editions made available by authorized entities) contain access controls that prevent the enabling either of the book’s read-aloud function or of screen readers that render the text into a specialized format.
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From
http://www.copyright.gov/1201/2006/index.html
Note that, amusingly, it doesn't say that you have to need the read-aloud or screenreader tech, it simply states that it's legal if there are no versions of the ebook that support that tech. (almost all DRM ebooks will disable those features, since it allows a simple accessibility app to grab all the text otherwise).
It also does not state how one determines whether _all_ versions of the book don't support screen readers. I suspect you could credibly argue that since that feature is not listed by the bookseller, and since you cannot check the book before buying it, that it would be an economic hardship to determine if every other version was also restrictive, and since publishers tend to keep the same rules across formats, a single restrictive ebook would indicate a high probability that all editions would be restrictive.