Quote:
Originally Posted by Xenophon
"That is illegal..." Which is illegal? Did you mean stripping the DRM? Nobody knows yet whether it's illegal or not! The DMCA is self-contradictory on the subject, eminent legal scholars disagree on the interpretation, and no court has yet ruled. At this point there's no basis for any firm pronouncement on the legality (or illegality) of stripping DRM from legitimately acquired content for personal use only. My opinion is that removing DRM is ethically and morally OK in this case. And it seems quite clear that any DA who brings felony charges against someone for buying eBooks and stripping the DRM (and never distributing them farther!) is more likely to get chewed out by the judge for wasting the courts time than they would be to get a conviction!
If you meant loaning out the resulting DRM-free eBook, I'd have to say that the law isn't settled yet on that one either. My opinion is that loaning an eBook is somewhat more dubious because it's too hard to do so without making unapproved copies. On the other hand, the First Sale doctrine applies to software too so there's no fundamental reason why loaning out an eBook is obviously illegal a priori... it's just that it's harder to be sure that no one wound up with an extra copy in the process. And, of course, the combination of stripping DRM and also distributing the de-DRM-d copy is clearly a violation of both copyright and the DMCA.
So if the combination of removing DRM and distributing the result -- and note that 'distributing' here goes beyond 'lending with the expectation that the book will be returned'! -- is the thing you intended to call "illegal," I suppose I'd have to agree with that.
Xenophon
(who is NOT a lawyer, but has been moderately educated on the subjects of copyright, DRM, and U.S. law)
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"So if the combination of removing DRM and distributing the result -- and note that 'distributing' here goes beyond 'lending with the expectation that the book will be returned'! -- is the thing you intended to call "illegal," I suppose I'd have to agree with that." Is exactly what I am refering to.