NEW changes to copyright laws will help the visually-handicapped and academics in film and media studies, but home users will be stopped from cracking old computer programs and games.
From Jan 1, the visually-disabled will be allowed to crack electronic books where the read-aloud function is disabled, so they can access the book's contents. The read-aloud function reads out the text of an electronic book.
Film and media lecturers will also be allowed to extract video clips from copy-protected movies for classroom use, where they were previously forced to use the original discs to stay within the law.
Movie discs are usually encrypted with copy-protection technology, although there are tools available that allow users to bypass this copy-protection.
The Copyright Act has also been amended to prohibit home users from cracking obsolete computer programs or video games for which they had lost the access codes, even if they originally bought the items.
From Jan 1, only libraries will be allowed to make copies of obsolete computer programs and video games for archival purposes.
The changes, said Intellectual Property Office of Singapore director-general Liew Woon Yin, 'have been carefully crafted to balance the concerns of copyright owners and the needs of users'.
It remains an infringement under the Singapore Copyright Act for other users to circumvent copy-protection measures.
For instance, users are still prohibited from using a password generator to generate access codes to play pirated video games or using software like DeCSS to make unauthorised copies of DVD movies. Those found guilty face fines of up to $20,000.
The change, said the Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped's executive director, Mr Edmund Wan, is 'very good news' for the Republic's 3,000-plus visually-handicapped people, as it gives them a 'wider choice of materials'.
The Association, he said, 'had been very scared of doing this... of even accepting such materials from our foreign counterparts' for fear or breaking the law.
