I’m a big fan of digital media. It’s convenient; you can enjoy new books, movies, or music immediately, provided your internet connection is up to it. It’s portable; you can carry an entire library in your pocket. And it takes up far less space in your home than those books, cds, and dvds. Sounds great, right? Leave it to the publishers, the recording industry, and hollywood to screw up a good thing.
The culprit, of course, is Digital Rights Management. DRM is a way of tying digital content to the original purchaser. Usually, this also means tying it to a specific hardware and/or software device. Content producers say this is necessary to prevent piracy. They’re wrong.
While DRM may be adequate for stopping casual sharing (such as when I “give” my friend the new Snoop Dogg album I just got off iTunes), it does nothing to deter the dedicated pirate, who simply gets his media from illicit, DRM-free channels (such as torrents, newsgroups, and direct-download, like Rapidshare and Hotfile. Or so I’ve heard). The loser, of course, is the consumer, because these technologies, like their analogue in the hardware world (I’m looking at you, Apple!), prevent consumers from using their legally purchased products in the way they want. Want to listen to that iTunes album on your Android phone? Sorry, Apple only. Want to read that Amazon ebook on your Barnes and Noble Nook? Nope. How about that iTunes video on your Linux box? Sucks to be you.
The irony is, you are perfectly within your Fair Use rights to change formats or otherwise use your legally purchased content in any way you see fit for your personal use; however, circumventing DRM in order to exercise those rights is a violation of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. Which is paramount? Ask your lawyer. Then ask another one. You’ll likely get two different answers.
Unless, that is, you live in the Fifth Circuit. There, Judge Emilio Garza recently made the commonsense ruling that merely circumventing DRM is not illegal, provided the underlying reason for doing so is non-infringing (I’m parapharasing). In other words, if it falls within your Fair Use rights, you can break DRM to do it.
This is great news…if you happen to live in Louisiana, Mississippi, or Texas. For the rest of us, it technically has no legal bearing; however, it does establish precedent that may influence similar cases in other jurisdictions. Ultimately, this issue will have to be decided by the Supreme Court, or Congress, or even by the Library of Congress (which has the power to grant DMCA exceptions).
