- You may break software controls on computer games to test them for security flaws.
- You may break through software controls when the dongle (a hardware security device needed to operate some programs) malfunctions, is damaged, or becomes obsolete.
- You may break through software controls to enable read-aloud or screen readers for e-books when all authorized copies do not permit these features. This allows print-disabled readers to access e-books they purchase.
If you have a legitimate copy of a copyrighted work and can lawfully access it, you can also break through technological barriers to make copies because, according to the Copyright Office, copying may be a fair use.[1] Encryption and scrambling programs are both access and copy protections because they control whether a device will access, play, and copy the content. If you lawfully obtain a DVD that uses a scrambling system, you can only use a program to descramble and access the DVD if you fall under the higher education exemption mentioned above. However, if you can legally break the access controls under this exemption, you can also break the copy protection for copying that is covered by fair use or another copyright exception.
To summarize rules for complying with the DMCA, imagine Moses carrying tablets down from Mount Millennium. They might say:
- Thou shalt not decrypt an encrypted work;
- Thou shalt not descramble a scrambled work;
- If one needest a password to access a digital work, thou shall not override password access;
- Thou shalt not avoid, bypass, remove, or deactivate a technological protective measure that limits access to a protected work without permission;
- Thou shalt not traffic in devices that have a primary purpose of circumvention; and
- Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s databases.
Congress did toss a tiny bone to the library and educational communities. A non-profit library or educational institution may circumvent technologies that prevent access to a work in order to make a decision whether to acquire it.[2] This provision is largely meaningless, of course, because
