Four Exemptions to Anti-Circumvention Clause of Copyright Act Allowed

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 29, 2003 - 9:13am.

Washington -- The Librarian of Congress has delivered his triennial ruling of what, if any, exemptions should be made to the portion of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that prohibits the circumvention of copyright protections on a digital device. Advocates had argued that it should not be illegal to defeat copy-protected CDs, DVD regional coding, or the encryption on DVDs that prevent owners from making back-up copies. However, the Librarian took the recommendations of the Register of Copyrights, and allowed the following exemptions, in which cases copyright protections may be legally defeated: when accessing lists of websites blocked by commercial filters; for programs protected by "dongles" that prevent access due to malfunction or damage and which are obsolete; for computer software or video games for which the original media or hardware is "no longer manufactured or is no longer reasonably available in the commercial marketplace;" and for encrypted e-books for the purpose of enabling read-aloud software. "Consumers are the real losers in today's ruling, because the Librarian of Congress is ignoring the rights of nearly everyone who has purchased CDs and DVDs," said Electronic Frontier Foundation staff attorney Gwen Hinze.
http://www.copyright.gov/1201/index.html
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/20031028_1201_pr.php
http://makeashorterlink.com/?P1DA53066
http://news.com.com/2100-1028-5098639.html
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,60996,00.html