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.
  • M. Orange@beehaw.orgEnglish
    1·
    4 months ago

    Just in case anyone didn’t feel like reading the article, here’s the last (and imo most important) paragraph:

    However, without changing the DMCA, we can’t expect to see real, lasting change in this space. Doctorow said as much to me: “What we really need to do is get rid of DMCA 1201, that law that makes it a crime to format shift your media…it’s the same law that stops farmers from fixing their tractors, blocks independent mechanics from fixing your car, stops rivals from setting up alternative app stores for phones and games consoles…this law is a menace!”

    • Chahk@beehaw.orgEnglish
      1·
      4 months ago

      Good guy Meta. Fighting for us little guys, downloading terabytes of books, defending against lawsuits. Maybe they’ll overturn DMCA?

      /s

  • Lka1988@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    1·
    4 months 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.