Digital Locks and Video Games

Digital locks and anti-circumvention prohibitions generally say that it is illegal to bypass technological copy-protection measures. Such laws are contentious because of the fear that these prohibitions will apply even if the protected work is being accessed for legal activities (for example, under fair use or fair dealing exceptions).

The US Digital Millennium Copyright Act contains anti-circumvention provisions, but has a built-in mechanism by which the Librarian of Congress periodically determines whether there are classes of works that should be exempted from those provisions. The Librarian of Congress recently designated several new classes of exempt works, two of which are relevant to video games:

1. Computer programs that enable wireless handsets to execute software applications, so long as the circumvention if for the sole purpose of enabling the interoperability of lawfully-obtained applications. This exception opens the door to "jailbreaking" smartphones so that they can run unauthorized applications (including games).

2. Video games accessible on personal computers, so long as the circumvention is solely for the good-faith testing for, investigating, or correcting security flaws or vulnerabilities. The information generated from the testing must be used to promote the security of the owner or operator of a computer or computer system or network, and the information must be used or maintained in a way that does not facilitate copyright infringement or other violations of the law.

These are narrow exceptions, but they demonstrate the ongoing evolution of how anti-circumention laws are approached in different circumstances.

Coverage at Gamasutra; see the Librarian of Congress's statement here.