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DRM Circumvention Now Lawful For More Devices
BUL2294 writes: The U.S. Library of Congress' Copyright Office has published their newest rules regarding DRM circumvention. Much to the chagrin of car makers and agricultural vehicle manufacturers, DRM circumvention, with the exception of telmatics ("black box") and entertainment systems, and anything that would run afoul of DOT or EPA regulations, is now allowed for "diagnosis, repair or lawful modification of a vehicle function." In addition, jailbreaking is now extended to tablets, wearables, and smart TVs, but not to single-purpose devices like e-readers. An exemption has been carved out for security researchers to hack cars, voting machines, and medical devices — as long as that device is not being used for its purpose and is in an isolated environment. Finally, owners of abandoned video games that require server authentication (where such authentication is no longer available) may also circumvent DRM. DRM circumvention is NOT allowed for jailbreaking gaming systems and e-readers, and does not allow for "format-shifting" (e.g. moving e-books from one platform to another).
The full text of the new rules is available online (PDF), and will be published in the Federal Register on October 28, 2015.
The full text of the new rules is available online (PDF), and will be published in the Federal Register on October 28, 2015.
As much as I hate the DMCA and DRM in general, I have to concede that at least some of what the Copyright office has proposed here are reasonable exemptions to DRM. Game authentication, unlocking tablets, etc. Kudos to them for that. I do understand it is a small victory, however, and easily reversible. But still, at least they are putting some thought into it and not just giving all DRM producers carte blanche.
Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
Basically it applies to games where the "developer" part consists of an authentication server (to verify you have a legitimate copy of the game) and/or a matchmaking server (to find opponents), and other than that, no content is required of the server. The exemption is that if the developer stops providing either, you're allowed to hack the game to use your own.
This only applies to games where the developer involvement is limited to authentication and/or matchmaking. If the server part includes content (e.g., MMOs), then it does not apply
So a game that's pretty much self-contained is OK, but not one that requires external content.
To take a real life example - Microsoft killed multiplayer on Halo 2 for the original Xbox and Windows years ago. Under this exemption, it is legal to hack the game (but not the xbox!) to use your own server for authentication and matchmaking. But only for those versions, since the Xbone version is still operational..
I wonder what MMO they are referencing there that has audiovisual content primarily stored on the game servers. Every MMO I've ever played has kept all of that on your computer and the game server just tells your computer where your character is on the map. All of the 3d models, textures, sounds, and maps are stored on your computer. All the rendering is done on your computer, the only things the game server typically provides is coordinate data for characters and mobs, spews out numbers from the random number generator, and signals events for scripted things, and of course tracks all the stats for your character.