[theFiddler] "The legality of it all still up for debate. As long as one keeps it for personal use, breaking the copy protection isn't necessarily illegal in and of itself."
This is simply and patently incorrect.
The
Digital Millennium Copyright Act expressly makes a crime any ripping of a DVD or other medium that falls under its protections. (This is a USA law and does not apply to other countries in which people here may be reading this.)
It does not exempt nor does it protect the rights of the end user who bought it. In fact, it expressly forbids backing it up in any means whatsoever. Period. There are no exceptions granted.
There is also no debate. The law was passed. It is not a "transitional" law somehow being phased in in some increasingly more enforceable manner that grows with time. No, it is the law, plain and simple.
Debate it if you like but it would be akin to debating the ethics of robbing a bank. The ethics wouldn't matter in a court of law and a judge won't care one bit if you don't like the law or not. They are not there to legislate, that job has already been done. They are there to enforce the laws as written.
There's no debate but you can think so to your own demise.
Best regards,
