Internet Archive Gets DMCA Exemption To Help Archive Vintage Software

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Tue, 09 Dec 2003 17:19:26 -0600
From: Bob Alberti <alberti () sanction net>
Subject: Internet Archive Gets DMCA Exemption To Help Archive Vintage Software
To: dave () farber net


From http://www.archive.org/about/dmca.php

In 2003 the Internet Archive, as part of research into vintage software
archiving, discovered possible archiving issues involving the Digital
Millenium Copyright Act. This could make it impossible to legally archive
early computer software and games, even for accredited institutions wishing
to store limited amounts of non-distributable, archival images.

It's vital to make proper archival copies of these artefacts, because the
life of magnetic media such as floppy discs has been estimated at 10 to 30
years. Time is running out to properly archive much of this large body of
work for safekeeping, to ensure it lives out its term of copyright and is
available ( in the short-term, under suitable copyright-constrained means)
for posterity.

The Copyright Office holds a rulemaking proceeding every 3 years to:

"determine whether there are particular classes of works as to which users
are, or are likely to be, adversely affected in their ability to make
noninfringing uses due to the prohibition on circumvention of access
controls."

As part of this rulemaking process, the Internet Archive submitted an
initial comment in early 2003, and followed this up with a reply comment
giving further examples of classic software that might be lost if access
controls could not be circumvented.

Following deliberation, the Copyright Office ruled in late October 2003 that
four exemptions should be added to the anti-circumvention clause of the
DMCA, to be valid until the next Copyright Office rulemaking in 2006,
including two that are related to the Internet Archive's original comments:


Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to
malfunction or damage and which are obsolete.
Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become
obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of
access.

With the aid of these exemptions, the Internet Archive is continuing its
work with institutional and technical partners to research and archive this
at-risk software, and would like to thank all those who worked hard to help
us achieve our goal.

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