It is Now Legal in the US to Jailbreak a Game's DRM After Servers Have Shut Down - News

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The Library of Congress has changed the DRM laws in the US so that it is now legal to jailbreak a game's DRM once servers for the game have shut down and made it impossible to play. 

However, this exception does not apply to any game that has only lost its online multiplayer features.

"The Librarian granted part of EFF’s new proposal for an exemption to preserve abandoned video games," said the Electronic Frontier Foundation after the ruling.

"The new exemption allows players to modify their copy of a game to eliminate the need for an authentication server after the original server is shut down. Museums, libraries, and archives can go a step further and jailbreak game consoles as needed to get the games working again."

"Disappointingly, the Librarian limited the exemption to games that can’t be played at all after a server shutdown, excluding games where only the online multiplayer features are lost. Still, this exemption will help keep many classic and beloved video games playable by future generations."

Thanks VG24/7.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.

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Darwinianevolution (on 28 October 2015)

Nice. Great news for the preservation of software.

• +9

Ganoncrotch (on 28 October 2015)

2016 will be MAGs big year!!

• +4

Jimbo1337 Ganoncrotch (on 29 October 2015)

MAG was the best FPS game ever made and this model should be the direction for future shooters.

• +1

malistix1985 (on 29 October 2015)

DRM is horrible. I buy all my games legal and I love supporting gaming but there are limits and DRM usually breaches these limits, there are exceptions, like steam.

• +3

TheGreatGamerGod (on 29 October 2015)

So...does this mean EA,Ubisoft and co are going to start turning their games into faceless MMO lites like the crew just so they can properly shut their games down? Seems like the kind of dick move they'd use to stop people in the future.

• +1

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FayeC John2290 (on 28 October 2015)

Probably exactly where they were before. I can't imagine this exception allows people to create their own servers for games like that, only to modify the client.

• 0

OmegaRed421 John2290 (on 29 October 2015)

well when Destiny servers get completely shut down then it will be legal to do it since the game will become unplayable.

• +2