^"Fair use" permits personal backups in most cases but this is not the same as saying copy protection systems are illegal. Can you back your claim up or have guessed/assumed/inferred that copy protection is illegal?
It was a four page article in PCGAMER (I think) that I read. They interviewed the coordinator of the 'Trading Standards' and later did an article on the actual law that dictates DISC protection is unlawful. Ask them...
I'll try and dig out the mag with it all in, if you're interested.
The There are two things you need to be aware of: Copy protection and disc protection are not necessarily the same thing. People can protect their work, but not the disc, as they are also in breach of the EULA (where backup copies are condoned), as well as the law.
I'm not saying the law won't be changed (eventually) in favour of the publishers encrypting discs, but the EULA will also need to be changed to reflect this. As it stands now, when you purchase a game, you purchase the runtime code and the right to run it. There is no set expiry date in the EULA stating "you cannot run this code after two years (for example)". You have the same right to run the code you purchased six years after you bought it, as the day you bought it. If the dev/pub goes bankrupt, they cannot replace the disc with the code you paid for, and thus, your right to backup your purchase.
However, this law is in place to protect businesses in my opinion, who can become heavily dependant on custom written software, and mainstream programs. They often spend thousands on products, and backups are always implemented in any "disaster recovery" plans they make. If the law takes away this right for them, it will have far reaching consequences in the security and stability of businesses everywhere.
Check out this article
Here Here is a quote from it, "backing up" what I said (no pun inteded <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/winkwink.gif" alt="" />).
" The music industry has said, however, that music creators have the right to protect their works from piracy and have done so for years without it being it being deemed unlawful. Furthermore, they point to the fact that only a handful of CDs have been distributed with the protections included so far."
