First, Congress was responding to the perceived need to implement obligations imposed on the U.S. DMCA Legislative BackgroundĬongress enacted the DMCA’s anti-circumvention provisions in response to two pressures. For example, a disgruntled employer used the DMCA against a former contractor for simply connecting to the company’s computer system through a virtual private network (“VPN”). The DMCA Interferes with Computer Intrusion Laws.įurther, the DMCA has been misused as a general-purpose prohibition on computer network access, a task for which it was not designed and to which it is ill-suited.
Similarly, Apple has used the DMCA to tie its iPhone and iPod devices to Apple’s own software and services. For example, the DMCA has been used to block aftermarket competition in laser printer toner cartridges, garage door openers, videogame console accessories, and computer maintenance services. Rather than focusing on pirates, some have wielded the DMCA to hinder legitimate competitors. The DMCA Impedes Competition and Innovation.
Already, the movie industry’s use of encryption on DVDs has curtailed consumers’ ability to make legitimate, personal-use copies of movies they have purchased. The DMCA Jeopardizes Fair Use.īy banning all acts of circumvention, and all technologies and tools that can be used for circumvention, the DMCA grants to copyright owners the power to unilaterally eliminate the public’s fair use rights. The lawsuit against 2600 magazine, threats against Princeton Professor Edward Felten’s team of researchers, and prosecution of Russian programmer Dmitry Sklyarov have chilled the legitimate activities of journalists, publishers, scientists, students, programmers, and members of the public.
As a result, the DMCA has become a serious threat to several important public policy priorities: The DMCA Chills Free Expression and Scientific Research.Įxperience with section 1201 demonstrates that it is being used to stifle free speech and scientific research. In practice, the anti-circumvention provisions have been used to stifle a wide array of legitimate activities. The law was ostensibly intended to stop copyright infringers from defeating anti-piracy protections added to copyrighted works. The “anti-circumvention” provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”), codified in section 1201 of the Copyright Act, have not been used as Congress envisioned. The latest version can always be obtained at 1. It is updated from time to time as additional cases come to light. This document collects reported cases where the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA have been invoked not against “pirates,” but against consumers, scientists, and legitimate competitors.
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