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by henryackerman 1622 days ago
The stupid thing is that this might be illegal in some jurisdictions. With any DRM scheme you'll end up having to break the law at some point in time to consume the content you legally purchased.
2 comments

Isn’t there a DMCA exemption for instances where you need to break DRM for compatibility with your hardware?
This is what I thought as well. But looking at the latest ruling by the Copyright Office, I don't see one. Maybe I'm missing it?

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2021-10-28/pdf/2021-2...

What happens if you rip out side the USA and bring those rips to the USA. Did you circumvent under DMCA?
No, because the prohibition is on acquisition of the software. Though if you brought the software to do so with you you'd be in breach.

But it's worth noting that virtually every country in the world has a prohibition on acquiring software to bypass DRM. In the UK for example it's a criminal offense with potential jail time attached to import it (i.e. download it from a foreign server) or sell it.

Could you cite that law please? I don't doubt it, UK copyright law in my personal opinion is overly beholden to USA (eg entertaining extradition for hosting links which are allegedly to material acquired through infringement).

Format shifting à la iTunes CD rips is tortuous in the UK, AFAICS, making iTunes unlawful as it's produced in order to enable infringing behaviour.

Section 296ZB of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act (1988) as modified by the Copyright and Related Rights Regulations (2003).

iTunes isn't unlawful in the UK, as there's no prohibition on making software to format shift. It's just using it to format shift that's unlawful. But software to bypass technical protection measures is prohibited, and similar laws exist in almost all countries because having them is a requirement for WTO membership.