Re: It's legal to crack Apple II copy protection

[Andy McFadden <fadden@fadden.com>]

Matthew Russotto <russotto@grace.speakeasy.net> wrote:
>>"The DMCA does not forbid the act of circumventing copy controls"
> 
> Hmm, I was wrong.  Devices which circumvent copy controls are illegal
> to manufacture or traffic in, but the act of circumvention of copy
> controls isn't illegal under the DMCA.

By my reading, the act of circumvention is illegal, by section
1201(a)(1)(A) (see below).  There is an exception in 1201(f) for reverse
engineering that might apply, but that'd be a bit of a stretch.

The Librarian goes on to state "proponents of exemptions have demonstrated
that the prohibition on circumventing access controls has had a substantial
adverse effect on the ability of people to make noninfringing uses of
four particular classes of copyrighted works."  So circumventing "copy"
controls is legal but circumventing "access" controls isn't?  The only
mention of "copy controls" in the law relates to Macrovision's analog
video stuff.

"Devices" includes software, e.g. DeCSS.  So you'd need to crack the disks
without writing anything that could be identified as a device.  I used to
use a handful of tools (e.g. a boot0 loader that helped with boot tracing),
the "manufacture" of which could land me in jail.  If I keep the tools to
myself, and only use them for reverse engineering, I might be okay.

SunnComm recently started (and then stopped) pursuing legal action against
a Princeton researcher who pointed out that holding down the "shift" key
would defeat SunnComm's latest audio CD copy protection.  Whether or not
they'd win is irrelevant... big companies have money to waste on lawsuits,
individuals usually don't.

FWIW, section 1201 says (among other things):

 `(a) VIOLATIONS REGARDING CIRCUMVENTION OF TECHNOLOGICAL MEASURES-
    (1)(A) No person shall circumvent a technological measure that
    effectively controls access to a work protected under this title. The
    prohibition contained in the preceding sentence shall take effect at
    the end of the 2-year period beginning on the date of the enactment
    of this chapter.

    [...some exceptions are described, including the right of the Librarian
        of Congress and Register of Copyrights to review stuff...]

    (2) No person shall manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide,
    or otherwise traffic in any technology, product, service, device,
    component, or part thereof, that--

        `(A) is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of
        circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls
        access to a work protected under this title;

        `(B) has only limited commercially significant purpose or use
        other than to circumvent a technological measure that effectively
        controls access to a work protected under this title; or

        `(C) is marketed by that person or another acting in concert with
        that person with that person's knowledge for use in circumventing
        a technological measure that effectively controls access to a
        work protected under this title.

    [if you have a copy of DeCSS, you're trafficking in illegal devices]

    `(3) As used in this subsection--

        `(A) to `circumvent a technological measure' means to descramble
        a scrambled work, to decrypt an encrypted work, or otherwise
        to avoid, bypass, remove, deactivate, or impair a technological
        measure, without the authority of the copyright owner; [...]

http://www.eff.org/IP/DRM/DMCA/hr2281_dmca_law_19981020_pl105-304.html

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