United States regulators recently approved the new exemptions to a provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that will allow users to ethically hack cars, gadgets and even medical devices without the fear of breaking any copyright law.
The controversial 1201 provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act prohibits the circumvention of Digital Rights Management technologies, regardless of the intent. This particular provision made it illegal to unlock smartphones or devices from their original carrier. It also makes it difficult for security researchers to tinker with devices in fear of violating copyright laws.
The new ruling now extends to tablets and other portable devices. It also allow users to legally rip DVD and Blu-Ray contents for the purpose of fair use and for the intent of preserving it content. Online games abandoned by their publishers can now be revived by gamers in order to continue playing the game. The new ruling also allows security researchers to legally circumvent access restrictions on cars in order to do security research or fix some perceived loophole or flaw, according to Tech Crunch.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation declare this new ruling as a big victory for fair use.
The group wrote on a blog post, "We hope each of these exemptions enable more exciting fair uses that educate, entertain, improve the underlying technology, and keep us safer. A better long-term solution, though, is to eliminate the need for this onerous rulemaking process."
The new ruling over DMCA provision 1201 will take effect in 2016. While many considers this a big step towards fair use, EFF remind users that the exemption is only good for three years and needs to be renewed once it expires.