Jailbreaking iPhones, Hacking PC Video Games and Unscrambling DVD Encryption All Allowed Under U.S. Copyright Law… Sometimes
By Anna Johnson on July 27th, 2010The U.S. Copyright Office has ruled that, among other things, ‘jailbreaking’ an iPhone, circumventing a DVD’s content scrambling system for educational purposes or criticism, and hacking a PC-based video game to uncover security flaws are all allowed under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
The U.S. Copyright Office has deemed six circumstances in which someone circumventing protective/encryption technologies would be exempt from prosecution for copyright infringement under the DMCA.
These are where someone circumvents protective/encryption technologies in relation to:
- Motion pictures on DVDs where the sole purpose is to incorporate short portions of these into new works for the purpose of criticism or comment, or for educational uses by college and university professors or students making documentaries or non-commercial videos;
- Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute software applications, where the sole purpose is to enable interoperability of such applications;
- Computer programs, in the form of firmware or software, that enable used wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless telecommunications network, solely in order to connect to a wireless telecommunications network;
- PC-based video games solely for investigating, or correcting security flaws or vulnerabilities;
- Computer programs protected by security dongles that are obsolete; and
- Ebooks containing access controls that prevent a read-aloud function or render the text into a specialized format.
Visit the U.S. Copyright Office for the full text of the ruling.
