Is defeating a 40-year-old copy protection mechanism still illegal under Section 1201 of the DMCA, or have they changed the law to make an exception for "very old" software?
There are more general exemptions, including dongle-based software. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_preservation#Legal_...>
I cannot cite the reliable sources for it, though.
In terms of copyright terms, this software is still pretty young, not even halfway to public domain. It's disrespectful to call it "very old".
Surely if the work being protected isn't copyrighted, there's nothing to circumvent in terms of the DMCA?
Here, let's read together: https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/1201
> No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title
> protected under this title
A work not protected under title 17, copyright, is thus not covered.
Directive 2009/24/EC, Article 5 + Article 6
Under special circumstances it's legal within the EU do do this.
And removing a freaking old copy protection dongle to allow emulation of the software you legally are allowed to use falls under this.