Librarian of Congress renews and extends DRM circumvention exceptions

[PandathePanda]

A bold move methinks:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2015/1...ions-fair-uses

The new rules for exemptions to copyright's DRM-circumvention laws were issued today, and the Librarian of Congress has granted much of what EFF asked for over the course of months of extensive briefs and hearings. The exemptions we requested—ripping DVDs and Blurays for making fair use remixes and analysis; preserving video games and running multiplayer servers after publishers have abandoned them; jailbreaking cell phones, tablets, and other portable computing devices to run third party software; and security research and modification and repairs on cars—have each been accepted, subject to some important caveats.

The exemptions are needed thanks to a fundamentally flawed law that forbids users from breaking DRM, even if the purpose is a clearly lawful fair use. As software has become ubiquitous, so has DRM.* Users often have to circumvent that DRM to make full use of their devices, from DVDs to games to smartphones and cars.

The law allows users to request exemptions for such lawful uses—but it doesn’t make it easy. Exemptions are granted through an elaborate rulemaking process that takes place every three years and places a heavy burden on EFF and the many other requesters who take part. Every exemption must be argued anew, even if it was previously granted, and even if there is no opposition. The exemptions that emerge are limited in scope. What is worse, they only apply to end users—the people who are actually doing the ripping, tinkering, jailbreaking, or research—and not to the people who make the tools that facilitate those lawful activities.

[DuckieTigger]

Not a single mention of ebooks? Or are they already excempt?

[drjenkins]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Not a single mention of ebooks? Or are they already excempt?

Since they are not mentioned, they are not exempt.

[pdurrant]

Ebooks are exempt in certain circumstances. The ruling for ebooks is as follows:

Literary works, distributed electronically, that are protected by technological measures that either prevent the enabling of read-aloud functionality or interfere with screen readers or other applications or assistive technologies,
(i) When a copy of such a work is lawfully obtained by a blind or other person with a disability, as such a person is defined in 17 U.S.C. 121; provided, however, that the rights owner is remunerated, as appropriate, for the price of the mainstream
copy of the work as made available to the general public through customary channels, or
(ii) When such work is a nondramatic literary work, lawfully obtained and used by an authorized entity pursuant to 17 U.S.C. 121.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Ebooks are exempt in certain circumstances. The ruling for ebooks is as follows:

So only for "use by blind or other persons with disabilities", and only if they are "reproduced or distributed in specialized formats exclusively for use by blind or other persons with disabilities." Specialized formats means:
"(A) braille, audio, or digital text which is exclusively for use by blind or other persons with disabilities; and
(B) with respect to print instructional materials, includes large print formats when such materials are distributed exclusively for use by blind or other persons with disabilities."

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/121

Good to know.

Shari

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by shalym

So only for "use by blind or other persons with disabilities", and only if they are "reproduced or distributed in specialized formats exclusively for use by blind or other persons with disabilities."

No, the last bit you quote isn't relevant to ebooks used by a blind person, only to organisations distributing copies of copyright material specifically for the blind.

Any blind person* in the US may remove DRM from ebook formats for their own use, if the DRM stops them using the ebook.



* blind or "other physically handicapped readers certified by competent authority as unable to read normal printed material as a result of physical limitations"