DRM prevents you from downloading copies of books you've purchased from online storefronts, but is it legal to bypass DRM to create backups? Cory Doctorow, an expert on the DMCA, weighs in on the subject.
  • Lka1988@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    2·
    1 month ago

    Removing DRM has always been “illegal”.

    However: German concentration camps were legal, while families protecting Jewish citizens from being taken to said concentration camps was strictly illegal.

    What’s legal is not always right (ethically and morally), and what’s right is not always legal. Remember that.

    • Yingwu@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      I’d like to clarify that removing DRM does lie in a grey zone in many countries, including in the US due to some court rulings. In some countries the right to make a backup of your e-book might have priority over copyright law for example.

      • Lka1988@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1·
        1 month ago

        Sure, but companies who employ DRM have argued against that grey area since DRM was a thing. Something something IP/copyright/licensing/whatever bullshit… IMO: fuck you, I bought it, I own it, eat shit.

      • Ulrich@feddit.orgEnglish
        0·
        1 month ago

        The DMCA makes it pretty clear that “Circumvention of Technological Protection Measures” is illegal. There are no exceptions for whether you own or redistribute the content in question.

        • Delzur@vegantheoryclub.orgEnglish
          0·
          1 month ago

          It’s not needed.

          If another law says you have a right to create backups of digital content you own, then two laws are in conflict. Why would dcma have precedence?

          No idea about US, but in some countries it would be up to judges, and with enough rulings it would be settled one way or another.