After reading a history of copyright legislation, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what law we are now forced to follow. Correct me if anything in this post is wrong, but I think DMCA is still fairly alive and kicking. As Goldstein explains, with new technologies come new responses from companies and the government to define and protect copyright within these new mediums. DMCA attempted to respond to the changes brought by Internet technologies. One important aspect of the act criminalizes attempts to circumvent digital rights management and other access control. I happen to hear about DRM mostly through the gaming communities, as it presents serious problems for online players. From what I can tell (again, correct me) DRM is actually some kind of code or part of the game, so do not think it is just a set of written rights. All DRM impedes pirates, those who would play or mod a game for free, but it also affects legitimate paying gamers. DRM, like any aspect of an online PC game, will slow down the gameplay or shut you out if it does not sync with the rest of the code. I don’t know if you’ve ever played a big MMO online, but it is beyond frustrating to be logged out in the middle of a match (like League Of Legends) or an extensive quest (like Diablo). Furthermore, people criticize DRM for not hurting pirates at all, while all the only ones to suffer are the paying customers. I think it is a glaring problem if your measures to protect your revenue end up hurting your customers. It might just drive them to piracy.
