DMCA Exemptions Don't Matter

sbma44 followed up to the recent news that jailbreaking iPhones is now legal with an article about DMCA exemptions. He says "The American Prospect has an article up that argues that focus on specific DMCA exemptions is silly, the practical upshot is about zero, and the underlying law remains as rotten as ever."

Comments

Screw CSS

[Pojut]

FTFA:

"...the exemption now specifically applies only to CSS, the technology used to encrypt DVD contents. There's no mention of AACS, the equivalent technology for Blu-ray discs, or of HDCP, the DRM system most likely to make installing your next TV a nightmarish ordeal"

The CSS portion of that is a HUGE positive. I would imagine that Blu-Ray and HDCP are too new to be considered for this kind of exemption...but knowing that I'm legally allowed to circumvent CSS is extremely noteworthy.

The CSS change and the "unlock phone for any network" change are both huge. WTF is the title talking about, that the exemptions don't matter? People have been wanting just those two for years.

Re:Screw CSS

[Anonymous Coward]

The CSS change and the "unlock phone for any network" change are both huge. WTF is the title talking about, that the exemptions don't matter? People have been wanting just those two for years.

The title is implying that whilst people have been wanting just those two for years, now that it has happened it's too little too late. In other words, it's pandering to public perception whilst pocketing from the industry, who are in fact looking to the next 3 years, not the last (Blu-ray, HDCP, and what have you).

Re:Screw CSS

[jedidiah]

This stuff matters for the reasons that the MPAA and RIAA complained about.

These exceptions carve out rights for individuals in a law that otherwise tries to screw individuals.

It's a far from ideal situation but it is a start.

Re:Screw CSS

[Pojut]

Agreed, but downplaying successes, regardless of how small (or pandering) they may be, sounds very childish.

Too little, too late? I don't know about you, but my DVD collection is still an order of magnitude larger than my Blu-Ray collection.

Re:Screw CSS

[betterunixthanunix]

A great argument...and 12 years too late. The DMCA is already signed into law, and there is no indication that anyone with any power is going to repeal it. It enjoys the support of democrats and republicans, and both Presidents Bush and Obama are pushing for similar laws to be passed in other countries, as well as for the DMCA to be strengthened here in the USA. The likelihood that this law is going to be repealed or overturned is effectively nil, and that is a reality that we have to live with for the time being.

Exemptions are the new battle, and we need to get as many of them passed as we possibly can.

Re:Screw CSS

[metiscus]

The DMCA is another example of the widening disconnect between the citizenry and the special interest dollars that drive our politics, particularly with respect to matters of IP. I assert that, had the law been brought to a vote by the average citizen in terms of its implications, it would never have become law.

Much More To The Point

[jra]

The 5th Circuit ruled the other day that "circumvention" isn't a "crime" *if you're doing it in order to exercise rights you already have -- like watching a movie you bought, or sharing a clip of it with your students as Fair Use...

or doing a Downfall parody, presumably.

Even *more* to the point; this means that jailbreaking your iPhone isn't "a crime"... but it does *not* mean Apple's forced to support you now, when they would have cut you off before.