From: Paul Louden <paulthenerd_at_gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:48:41 -0600

Mark Allums wrote:
>
> Removing the DRM is not immoral, and not illegal everywhere. People
> who lie to Audible for the purpose of defeating DRM could be violating
> terms of service, but if there is no risk of enforcement by Audible,
> it is a matter of conscience for the customer.
Even if removing DRM isn't illegal, it may still be against the terms of
their subscription, and lying about it would likely constitute
fraudulent activity.
> I do not encourage people to break the law, and I certainly would hope
> that the people thinking about it would not pirate the file by giving
> it to others (and hope they had sense enough not to, since the sound
> is almost certainly watermarked), but I see nothing wrong with
> removing DRM for personal private use in any jurisdiction where is not
> illegal to do so, as it may be in the US (DMCA).
There is nothing wrong with removing DRM where and when it is legal to
do so. That's why I mentioned the terms of service, and lying about it,
rather than the single act of DRM itself. We also discourage people from
talking about removing DRM in general on this list, because this list is
for Rockbox support, and not other topics like this.
>
> It is helpful to remind people that it may violate terms of service,
> but please don't ask people not to ask questions about it. It is
> useful to know the answer. Sort of like knowing something about
> weapons of mass destruction. Dangerous knowledge, perhaps, but not
> much use trying to prevent its spread.
I will continue to ask people not to ask questions about it because it's
strictly off topic, and the Rockbox project asks people in ALL its
channels of communication not to discuss removing DRM. This is a project
policy. So, frankly, don't tell me not to tell people this, when it's
clearly off-topic, as well as something we have always in the past asked
people not to discuss in our communication channels.
 
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Received on 2008-11-10