New Exemptions To Digital Millennium Copyright Act Allow Jailbreaking Of Tablets

With the grant of new exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), announced on Wednesday by the Library of Congress, owners of gadgets could jailbreak their devices and vehicles without breaching copyright regulations.

The changes, which takes effect in 2016, is the result of approval by Congress of a law that makes unlocking of phones from service provider legal which extends the exemption to tablets and other third-party portable devices. In effect, it reined in the 1201 provision of the Act that banned going around Digital Rights Management technologies, reports TechCrunch.

With the lifting of that restricting provision, which made it against the law to share HBO GO password or to unlock a smartphone from its carrier, ripping of DVD contents and Blu-rays for fair use remixes and to preserve video games after publishers abandon it are now allowed. The exemption includes car access restrictions for repairs and security research.

But the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which express satisfaction with the new exemptions, points out in a blog post that it is not permanent and must be renewed every three years. It adds, "Though many in the digital community applaud the exemptions, they're using today's announcement to spotlight reform efforts to copyright laws that they believe are either outdated of have been fundamentally flaws since they were passed more than a decade ago."

Gizmondo, however, notes that this development, considered as victories or big wins by some groups, are not what it seems. Rather, "the new rules allow people to do things they legally had the right to do all along, the tech websites stresses.

The foundation also supports the Unlocking Technology Act bill in Congress to limit telco from using the DMCA to run after device owners who circumvent Digital Rights Management to fix their gadgets or use copyrighted material for fair use.