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DMCA? How, they don't do this to access protected music/movie files. Or is that statute also covers other kinds of data?

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It is my understanding that under the DMCA the security measures themselves are copyrighted works and breaking them is a violation of the DMCA in and of itself. That’s why breaking DRM, even if it’s to access public domain works is still illegal.

I don’t think that understanding is correct. Content in the public domain is not “protected under this title [copyright law]”

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1201

> (A) No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title

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