Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
On 28 October 2016, two very-much ignored but crucial exemptions (.pdf; 308KB) to section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) took effect. Commonly known as the anti-circumvention provision, section 1201 prohibits working around technological protection measures.
For a two-year window, two exemptions to section 1201 are in effect: One specific to motorized vehicles; the other specific to consumer electronic devices.
The exemptions, initially enacted by the US Library of Congress’s Copyright Office in October 2015, are rich with limitations and conditions, including a one year delay of actual implementation. Even worse, the exemptions “sunset” two years after implementation. So, we get to go through all of this all over again.
You can now hack at fix some parts of your automobile, tractor, computer, or smartphone — but you can’t hire someone else to do it for you — without infringing the manufacturer’s copyright.
Researchers, for example, can expose flaws in their own devices during this two-year window without fear of reprisal.
This is what happens when corporations are allowed to retain rights to property they sell to customers.
Accordingly, iFixit.org and Repair.org immediately submitted comments to the Copyright Office in support of a “permanent exemption for all repair and security research.”
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
