The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a copyright law in the United States that outlines what is considered legal and illegal circumvention of anti-pirating measures put in place upon copyrighted digital media. Building upon two treaties from the World Intellectual Property Organization, It was introduced in the House as H.R. 2281 on July 27, 1997 by Congressman Howard Coble(R-NC) and signed into law by President Bill Cliton on October 28, 1998. It's official stated purpose is: “To amend title 17, United States Code, to implement the World Intellectual Property Organization Copyright Treaty and Performances and Phonograms Treaty, and for other purposes.”

It is worthwhile to note that the DMCA only applies to the United States. While the European Union has similar provisions, they are largely ineffective across the entire union because they must be enacted by the individual countries. Most of the DMCA provisions can be circumvented if the action takes place outside of the U.S. Border.

1. Unless doing encryption research, it is illegal to break the copy-protetion on any form of digital media for any reason with few exceptions
2. It is illegal to buy, sell, or manufacture hardware or software that allows for the breaking of the copy-protection on digital media.
3. ISPs (including universities and institutions acting as ISPs) have a very limited liability for any copyright infringement that takes place on their networks. They are required, however, to takedown any infringing copyrighted material on their network or websites that is brought to their attention.

The DMCA does allow for exemptions to be filed through the U.S. Copyright Office. Once every three years, these exemption-requests are looked at and either allowed or rejected. If allowed, the exemption exists for three years until the next time the Copyright Office looks at exemptions. There is no automatic renewal of exemptions; they must be reapplied for every three years.

Some exemptions that currently exist:

• Teachers of Film Classes are exempt from the DCMA as long as it is for educational purposes
• Jailbreaking of a Phone or Device
• Short clips for comment or criticism
• When conducting research into security vulnerabilities conducted in “good faith”

Most providers of digital media wrap their products in a software called Digital Rights Management (DRM). DRM allows the control of access to the media, whether it be either user oriented or device oriented.

Most consumers are familiar with DRM as they interact with the iTunes Store. Movies, TV Shows, and Applications downloaded off of the iTunes store are wrapped in DRM (Apple's particular variant is called FairPlay) that restrict what devices the media can be played (or run) on and, in addition, the file is tied to the user's iTunes account and cannot be played by other users without the purchaser's iTunes account e-mail and password.

In actual practice, the DMCA is used as a legal provision against anyone messing copyrighted digital material, with or without the intent to pirate. For example, Apple released a version of iDVD that required an internal DVD-Burner to run. Other World Computing (OWC) discovered that with a small software tweak, it would work for Macs with an external DVD-Burner as well. They released thier modification, and were subjected to a takedown notice from Apple. Due to the DMCA, Apple was able to force users to upgrade to newer Macs rather than allowing the software to work with older Macs.

The general response to the DMCA has been confusion amongst consumers as to what they are and aren't allowed do with the media they legally purchase. Under the DMCA, you are not allowed to break the copy-protection on the DVD for any reason, including making a “personal, backup copy” or “viewing on another device.” At one point in time, it was questionable whether ripping songs from a legally purchased CD to a hard drive (possibly for transfer to an portable media player such as an iPod) was legal under the DMCA.

The DMCA does not apply only to digital media, but also to digital documents. In 2002, CNet reporter Declan McCullagh discovered documents online relating to the Transportation Security Administration's screening procedures at airports, their interaction with local law enforcement, and their liability in certain scenario. These documents were encrypted with a password and stamped that they were for law enforcement or TSA personnel only. The password was provided to McCullagh by an anonymous source. McCullagh, however, refused to open the documents citing concerns over the DMCA and whether using the password (which he was not supposed to have) would be considered breaking the copy protection on the documents.

Jailbreaking is the process in which a user employs a software hack to circumvent restrictions on the device or to add additional features not originally shipped with the device's software. The term “jailbreaking” is most often applied to Apple's iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch lineup (known as iOS devices) because Apple frequently restricts both current and older devices from performing certain tasks such as multitasking (prior to iOS 4), filesystem access, and the loading of applications from sources other than the official iOS App Store.

Under a 2010 ruling in the United States, the process of jailbreaking is considered legal under the DMCA because it does not violate copyrighted material, but instead allows a user to load applications via another source or allows a user to switch cell networks. Apple does claim, however, that jailbreaking an iOS device does void the warranty of the device and is still allowed to place anti-jailbreaking measures within their device software.

Similar provisions are in place within the European Union that allow for the legal jailbreaking of devices.

Jailbreaking is considered an exemption under the DMCA, and as such must be renewed every three years to remain legal. It remains unclear whether the trafficing of unlocked iOS Devices or the distribution of software that allows for jailbreaking is considered legal in the United States.

Sony has recently come under fire for their lawsuit against George Hotz for his breaking of the PlayStation 3. Hotz wanted to install a version of Linux on his PS3 under the OtherOS Platform, which required rootkitting and jailbreaking the PS3. In doing so, Sony claims that he has circumvented the copy protection in place within the PS3 Operating System to prevent the copying of games and has filed suit against him under the DMCA. A ruling has yet to be made as to the legality of the situation.

Complete Text of the DMCA/HR2281

UCLA Cyberspace Law

U.S. Copyright Office DMCA Summary

Electronic Frontier Foundation's List of Unintended Consequences under the DMCA

List of Exemptions from the DMCA by the US Copyright Office