It's called the DMCA -- Digital Millennium Copyright Act. And it does say specifically that you are not allowed to decrypt things that you bought so that you can copy them to other formats, EVEN IF THAT IS "FAIR USE."
It's totally absurd. But it's now the law of the land.
If a DVD was not encrypted or otherwise protected, it would be legal to rip it to an MPEG to use for your own purposes. But if it is encrypted, and the manufacturer's right to control how you use the product legally trumps YOUR "fair use" rights. It is unbelievably crappy, but that is how it is now.
If you buy one of those "copy protected" CDs that are coming out now, there is no way to legally listen to an MP3 of the music -- since you have to bypass the manufacturer's protection to make an MP3. Insane. Totally consumer-hostile.
For even more fun, there's a new law called the SSSCA (I think). If/when it is passed, it will mandate content control mechanisms be built into all digital storage or computing devices. In other words, the computer of the future literally will restrict our "fair use" rights in new and terrible ways... and it will be illegal to sell or import computing machinery or software without these controls.
(so what does that mean for free operating systems? It probably means they will become illegal... the FreeBSD and Linux guys probably won't be able to include the legally-mandated content controls in their projects, because those controls will probably be designed and sold by the computer industry, and the price will be outta sight.)
Considering that the DMCA passed unanimously, I expect the SSSCA will sait through the legislature as well. Dark times are ahead. This is just the beginning. Hang on to your non copy-protected hard drives and motherboards!
Cheers,
Vegemite
