[starman]

Now legal in the U.S.: Jailbreaking your iPhone, ripping a DVD for educational purposes

You can now rip DVDs for yourself as long as the end result is that it's legal. That's a very important step in making sure that honest people aren't persecuted for making backups of their Disney DVDs in case their kids step on them. Also, the use of ripped DVDs for educational and documentary use it huge.

Oh yeah, you can now legally unlock and jailbreak your phone.

[iMOTOR]

The new policies seem very reasonable to IP owners; hopefully this decision doesn’t get reversed.

[The Final Dakar]

Wait, jailbreaking was actually illegal? Did anyone ever even get prosecuted for it?

[ort888]

My cousin broke out of jail by hiding in a cart filled with fish guts... and he got busted for it big time... 15 more years on top of what he was already serving... it's pretty illegal.

[iMOTOR]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Wait, jailbreaking was actually illegal? Did anyone ever even get prosecuted for it?

I guess it was illegal in so much that it violated a civil contract between the licensee and the licensor. So is it safe to assume that this decision makes such a contract null?

[The Final Dakar]

That joke was so bad I think I just got AIDS.

[TheoCryst]

It was technically illegal if you went by the letter of the DMCA. This changes that portion of the law.

Originally Posted by starman

You can now rip DVDs for yourself as long as the end result is that it's legal.

I actually don't see that in the text of the change. The only part relevant to DVDs is part 1, which only mentions education and criticism/comment. Not personal use.

Still, this is a Big ****ing Deal.

[mattyb]

I didn't know that the U.S. Copyright Office had this sort of power.

[reader50]

As part of the DMCA, Congress has the Copyright Office review exemption requests. Exemptions are granted for 3 years, and have to be granted again the next time. They don't simply continue.