[cbrunhaver]

It is too early to say, but it looks as though this just may have made DVD ripping in the US legal (though it definitely allows for rooting / jailbreaking phones).

This depends on what they mean by "short portions" and "noncommercial videos".

http://www.copyright.gov/1201/

There are various interpretations of this out on the internet so far but I have my fingers crossed.

Yes, I will pay for content but I hope this is the beginning of the end of current DRM practices. I somewhat doubt it because our politicians are currently bought and paid for by the lobbyists but here's to hoping.

-Chris

[Necromancyr]

I don't think it's that unclear:

(1) Motion pictures on DVDs that are lawfully made and acquired and that are [CODE]protected by the Content Scrambling System when circumvention is accomplished solely in order to accomplish the incorporation of short portions of motion pictures into new works for the purpose of criticism or comment, and where the person engaging in circumvention believes and has reasonable grounds for believing that circumvention is necessary to fulfill the purpose of the use in the following instances:

(i) Educational uses by college and university professors and by college and university film and media studies students;
(ii) Documentary filmmaking;
(iii) Noncommercial videos.

Nothing in there suggests 'DVD ripping for home use' to me at all.

Interestingly, there are caveats for format obsolescence for e-books and hardware dongles, but not for music formats and video formats.

[linuxluemmel]

I guess only short movie tracks and only for academic reasons .. are allowed ..
Inside switzerland we have a faire use copy-law. We pay a fee on every blank cd
and we can transcode or ripping as often we like(but only for personal usage)
Regards Hans