Why Fair Use is Not Just Acceptable, It’s Essential for the Future

July 27, 2010 | Source: ReadWriteWeb

New exemptions have been added to the the Digital Millenimum Copyright Act (DMCA) that provide protections for “fair use” in several different circumstances:

  • Permission for cell phone owners to break access controls on their phones in order to switch wireless carriers or “jailbreak” their device
  • Permission to break technical protections on video games to investigate or correct security flaws
  • Permission for college professors, film students and documentary filmmakers to break copy-protection measures on DVDs so they can embed clips for educational purposes, criticism, commentary and noncommercial videos
  • Permission to enable an e-book’s read-aloud function or use a screen reader with the e-book, even when built-in access controls prevent this
  • Permission for computer owners to bypass the need for external security devices called dongles if the dongle no longer works and cannot be replaced