Good news: It's no longer illegal to hack your electronics to fix them

The battles against the "right to repair" movement continue to intensify, but those who support it have just won what appears to be a huge victory. This is because the Congressional Librarian and the US Copyright Office have proposed the introduction of new laws that will give customers and independent repair shops the opportunity to legally pirate software on devices in order to to carry out repairs or maintenance.

This means that people are free to force digital rights management (DRM) and built-in software locks for the sole purpose of maintaining a device or system "to make it work to its original specifications" or to return it to a computer. "Operating condition conforms to its original specifications."

The huge 85-page document, which sets out all the new exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), has a lot to say. It seems however quite broad and complete. Heck, it even includes a section dedicated to video games, in which it is noted that some of these exemptions cover legally held video games, "when the copyright owner or his or her attorney ceases to provide the video game. access to an external computer server required for authentication process to enable the game. "

In such situations, copying and editing of the program is permitted "to restore access to the game for personal and local play on a personal computer or video game console".

Although these laws are definitely winning, the battle is far from over. Not all serious technology giants are in favor of handing over the keys to the kingdom of repair, and these exemptions do not necessarily mean it will be easy. For example, Apple would have started to introduce software that could help MacBook Pro repair if they are repaired by an unauthorized person to do it by Apple.

As we are not legal experts, we do not know how such scenarios will unfold. Nevertheless, it is a decisive step in the right direction for anyone who believes that consumers should be able to continue using the products that they have purchased as long as possible.