Hasta La Gadget!

Every year, the Library of Congress examines the DMCA and issues exceptions as necessary for groups of people who circumvent copy protection for various reasons, including fair use and parody. This year, the Library of Congress has issued six new exemptions, including two notable ones that allow for users of smartphones to jailbreak or root their device without worry that their actions violate the DMCA, and one that allows documentary filmmakers and students to rip and use short portions of copyrighted movies on DVD for educational purposes, documentary films, and non-commercial videos.

Granted, the exemption doesn’t mean that handset manufacturers have to support jailbroken devices or even stop playing the cat-and-mouse game of issuing patches that disable apps that help users jailbreak or root their devices. Similarly, this doesn’t mandate that movie studios provide unencrypted content for documentary filmmakers or students. What the exemptions do however is allow those groups to work without fear of being sued or issued a cease-and-desist under the DMCA.

The ruling also has exemptions for software that is protected by physical dongle where the dongle is no longer manufactured and no replacements are available, eBook readers that read-aloud or allow users to customize the text and circumventing copy protection on video games for the purposes of security testing. For more information on the ruling, check out our full coverage at PCMag.com.