The right to change car software and other new exceptions to the DMCA

The Library of Congress Copyright Office (US Copyright Office) has conducted another review of the temporary fair use exceptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). This procedure is carried out every three years.

The revision approved a number of new temporary exceptions. The most significant of these is allowing car owners and security professionals to learn and modify automotive software code. Despite strong opposition and protests from the automotive lobby, the Automotive Electronic Frontier Foundation's petition was satisfied. This is a very important decision that will allow you to freely search and publish vulnerabilities in automotive software without fear of criminal prosecution by the automaker, as it was before. True, lawmakers have delayed the entry into force of this exception for one year.

In addition, the term of exclusion for jailbreak smartphones has been extended for three years. The exception is now extended to other mobile devices, including tablets and smart watches. The owner of the device has the right to run any OS on it, and not only approved by the manufacturer.

Added three-year jailbreak resolution for smart TVs. It remains temporarily legal to create remixes from other people's videos, including the removal of video material from Blu-ray discs, for educational purposes and for documentaries.

An exception was introduced from DMCA to change the code of old unsupported computer games and to modify 3D printers for printing with non-standard materials.

At the same time, the Copyright Office agreed with copyright holders and the American Film Association (MPAA) about a terrible future if citizens were allowed to make copies of DVD and Blu-ray for personal use. This exemption from the DMCA was again rejected.

However, citizens have the right to make copies of the CD because they do not have DRM cryptographic protection, so DMCA is not violated. The authors of the petition from Public Knowledge point to this as an illogical legislation.

Jailbreak of game consoles has also been banned for the time being due to the threat of piracy.

Electronic Frontier Foundation lawyers have commented on the exemption from DMCA for a diligent study of automotive software. They say that the law was originally enacted to protect car software from copying. But even the recent scandal with Volkswagen showed that automakers use the closeness of program code to hide illegal bookmarks there.

As you know, VW has implemented a special module in the program code, which produced underestimated test results for CO emissions. When the car passed the test for compliance with the requirements of the US Environmental Protection Agency, the exhaust emission control system was included in full measure. During normal operation, emissions control was disabled to increase engine power. As a result of such programmed “cheating,” the actual amount of emitted harmful substances exceeded the norm by 10–40 times.

In addition to automotive software, the Electronic Frontier Foundation has obtained permission to modify old computer games to run them on modern hardware. Or, for example, to disable mandatory authentication on a server that has been down for a long time. Modification of old games is now allowed if the publisher has discontinued support. For example, if Blizzard shuts down the online authentication servers for new copies of StarCraft II, people will still be able to install the game in a legal way.

Despite the victory in several petitions, the Electronic Frontier Fund is not satisfied with the general state of affairs with the law. EFF lawyers believe that the whole system needs to be fundamentally changed: “It's absurd that we have to spend so much time every three years filling out papers and protecting our petitions at the Copyright Office. Engineers, creative people, activists and fans should not ask the government for permission - and rely on conflicting and often meaningless decisions - before investigating whether the car is lying or doing whatever it wants with their phones, said EFF Legal Director Corinne McSherry (Corynne McSherry). “But despite the existence of this ridiculous system, we are pleased with our victories and the fact that the basic rights to research and change have been protected.”

Full text of the document adopted by the US Copyright Office ( pdf )