IIRC/IANAL/etc, in the US backups in and of themselves are not infringement, but transferring tools that break copyright protection is illegal. So, you can back

IIRC/IANAL/etc, in the US backups in and of themselves are not infringement, but transferring tools that break copyright protection is illegal. So, you can back up your DVD, but you can't transfer (upload, download, etc) tools that break the encryption. So, unless you broke the encryption yourself independently, you're still not in the clear. The IBM/370 system example seems pretty farfetched. Especially since they said format shifting was a civil thing, not criminal. In general, there aren't a lot of clear cut laws that state "you can do X, but not Y". Mostly because that's just not how our legal system works. Most of the time, it's more about your intent rather than what you technically did. The most clear example of this is the differences between first degree murder, second degree murder, and manslaughter. All different crimes with different punishments, but ultimately you technically killed someone. Another more relevant example is how cybercrimes are treated. Just because a system let you have access to a file does not mean that it was legal access. Otherwise, none of them would be enforceable since it's always a machine granting you access (that you shouldn't have). It's all about your intent. Usually, if you really are just making your own backups from your own copies, you don't have much to worry about since, at least for now, it's not really enforceable.