[Daniel Dzula]

I stumbled upon this topic and while it seems silly to comment on such an old post, I’ll do so for the benefit of future generations (and would-be digital crackers):

Regarding previous comments about the legality of thwarting copy protection vs. actually exploiting/violating the underlying copyright—didn’t the 1998 DMCA criminalize the circumvention of copy protection protocols, regardless of whether or not you violate the copyright? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Millennium_Copyright_Act

Using DeCSS, to crack a DVD for example, is NOT analogous to copying a page out of a book. As far as I know, and as far as federal laws are concerned, the DMCA changed that. It doesn’t matter what you do—or not—with the files; there is no fair-use where circumvention of a copy-protection apparatuses is concerned.

Even if you were the sole copyright owner of the contents on an encrypted DVD—and even if you paid for the encryption and replication—it would still be ILLEGAL to decrypt/rip the contents of the disk.

The DMCA is just as flawed as it righteous. But until it is revised, copy at your own risk! And, um, maybe don’t post about it publicly!