"Effective" is defined in the DMCA and has nothing to do with actually being effective. It means a measure which, during the normal course of its operation (i.e

"Effective" is defined in the DMCA and has nothing to do with actually being effective. It means a measure which, during the normal course of its operation (i.e., the happy path, without anyone fucking with it), prevents copying. It doesn't matter how trivial or trivially broken such a measure is, if it's there to prevent copying you are civilly and criminally liable for breaking or circumventing it.