If you're a member of any hacking scene, odds are the letters DMCA are probably ones that you have been exposed to millions of times, and maybe you've even learned to hate them. However, for those of you that aren't so in the loop DMCA stands for the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and it is more or less the main piece of legislation from the government that allows corporations to guard their products against illegal activity. While the act's last revision did allow for legalized jailbreaking, the hacking hopefuls may want to take a seat for this new ruling that sets plenty of new guidelines for iPad jailbreaking, iPhone unlocking, and mobile DVD rips.

Sure a lot of us may slowly be moving on from DVD in favor of more digital media options, but unfortunately for those of you that like to make rips of your movies and throw them on your mobile device, that has unfortunately been deemed illegal under new copyright law. Essentially this is a move by tech companies to assert more control over how we choose to consume our content. Still, interestingly enough, that doesn't mean all DVD ripping will be outlawed entirely. Such software products will remain on the shelves because it has now been ruled as legal to decrypt a disc if you intend to only use a small portion of the film in a non-commercial way.

Still, maybe more interesting than that dated physical media is what this update does in terms of those iDevices we love so much. When it comes to iPhones, unlocks will only be legal action as long as they are completed prior to January 2013. That means if you're looking to switch carriers on that lovely smartphone, industry sources would suggest you do it now. As if that wasn't enough, iPad freedom also suffered its fair share of setbacks too in that now all jailbreaks of iPads are officially considered to be illegal. Mostly because the term "tablet" is so loosely defined, lawmakers didn't want to take the chance and allow this activity at the risk of opening that option up to other future devices such as handheld game consoles that could also be ruled as tablets. In a nut shell, this means jailbreaking your iPhone is still fair game, but if you're looking to do it on that larger-sized retina just know you're going to be engaging in some risky business from here on out. I know you'll have a lot to say about this one, so let's hear it in the comments!

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