[ NNSquad ] Re: Library of Congress apparently adds jailbreaking/rooting of devices to DMCA exceptions

["James S. Tyre" <jstyre@jstyre.com>]

At 08:49 AM 7/26/2010 -0700, Lauren Weinstein wrote:

> Library of Congress apparently adds jailbreaking/rooting of devices to
> DMCA exceptions
>
> http://bit.ly/aLXRFp  (Engadget)


As part of the Librarian of Congress triennial 
rulemaking under DMCA 1201, six exemptions were 
approved.  Full text of the exemptions below, 
more at <http://www.copyright.gov/1201/index.html>:

The Librarian of Congress has announced the 
classes of works subject to the exemption from 
the prohibition against circumvention of 
technological measures that control access to 
copyrighted works. Persons making noninfringing 
uses of the following six classes of works will 
not be subject to the prohibition against 
circumventing access controls (17 U.S.C. § 
1201(a)(1)) until the conclusion of the next rulemaking.

(1) Motion pictures on DVDs that are lawfully 
made and acquired and that are protected by the 
Content Scrambling System when circumvention is 
accomplished solely in order to accomplish the 
incorporation of short portions of motion 
pictures into new works for the purpose of 
criticism or comment, and where the person 
engaging in circumvention believes and has 
reasonable grounds for believing that 
circumvention is necessary to fulfill the purpose 
of the use in the following instances:

    (i)  Educational uses by college and 
university professors and by college and 
university film and media studies students;
    (ii) Documentary filmmaking;
    (iii) Noncommercial videos.

(2) Computer programs that enable wireless 
telephone handsets to execute software 
applications, where circumvention is accomplished 
for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability 
of such applications, when they have been 
lawfully obtained, with computer programs on the telephone handset.

(3) Computer programs, in the form of firmware or 
software, that enable used wireless telephone 
handsets to connect to a wireless 
telecommunications network, when circumvention is 
initiated by the owner of the copy of the 
computer program solely in order to connect to a 
wireless telecommunications network and access to 
the network is authorized by the operator of the network.

(4) Video games accessible on personal computers 
and protected by technological protection 
measures that control access to lawfully obtained 
works, when circumvention is accomplished solely 
for the purpose of good faith testing for, 
investigating, or correcting security flaws or vulnerabilities, if:

    (i)  The information derived from the 
security testing is used primarily to promote the 
security of the owner or operator of a computer, 
computer system, or computer network; and
    (ii) The information derived from the 
security testing is used or maintained in a 
manner that does not facilitate copyright 
infringement or a violation of applicable law.

(5) Computer programs protected by dongles that 
prevent access due to malfunction or damage and 
which are obsolete.  A dongle shall be considered 
obsolete if it is no longer manufactured or if a 
replacement or repair is no longer reasonably 
available in the commercial marketplace; and

(6) Literary works distributed in ebook format 
when all existing ebook editions of the work 
(including digital text editions made available 
by authorized entities) contain access controls 
that prevent the enabling either of the book?s 
read-aloud function or of screen readers that 
render the text into a specialized format.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
James S. Tyre                                      jstyre@jstyre.com
Law Offices of James S. Tyre          310-839-4114/310-839-4602(fax)
10736 Jefferson Blvd., #512               Culver City, CA 90230-4969
Co-founder, The Censorware Project             http://censorware.net
Policy Fellow, Electronic Frontier Foundation     http://www.eff.org