The "Copyright" topic area includes discussions of traditional copyright, fair use, reverse engineering, and the new additions to copyright of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Under DMCA, we discuss the ISP safe harbor and its conditions (notice and takedown), and the anticircumvention provisions of section 1201.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act:
Anticircumvention (DMCA):
In order to control the distribution and use of their works, copyright owners are increasingly embedding access (keep you from accessing the work) and copy (control what you do with the work) protection schemes in their digital works. Under section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the circumvention of these access mechanisms is illegal, with only a few narrow statutory exemptions. The DMCA also prohibits the distribution of programs that can be used to circumvent both copy control and access control technologies.
The anti-circumvention provisions affect the way software engineers, computer scientists, and computer security specialists do their work. But the law also affects how librarians and educational institutions acquire new works, how Internet users can protect their privacy, and even how journalists can report on stories involving technical protection measures. By using a technical device to protect music, images or words the copyright holder can turn traditionally permissible access to or use of digital content into a civil violation. This new law has complex provisions and a few narrow exemptions, which are reviewed in greater detail in the DMCA anti-circumvention provisions FAQ, linked below.
Some activities affected by this law might include:
- manipulating the computer code of a digital toy to make it perform new functions;
- disabling an access control device on the storage media of an entertainment product;
- creating a patch for a software program or electronics product
- performing cryptanalysis on security systems that control access to digital data;
If you’ve received a letter accusing you of violating the DMCA, this section will help you understand the claims against you. If you are engaged in an activity which involves disabling an anti-copying measure, reverse engineering an encrypted computer system, conducting research on cryptography or security systems, or altering how a computer program or product works, this section is intended to provide you information about how the DMCA affects your activities. Distributing a program that performs these functions by selling, making available for download, or even linking to it, may also be a violation of the circumvention device provisions of the DMCA.
DMCA Safe Harbor:
In the online world, the potentially infringing activities of individuals are stored and transmitted through the networks of third parties. Web site hosting services, Internet service providers, and search engines that link to materials on the Web are just some of the service providers that transmit materials created by others.Section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) protects online service providers (OSPs) from liability for information posted or transmitted by subscribers if they quickly remove or disable access to material identified in a copyright holder's complaint.
In order to qualify for safe harbor protection, a service provider who hosts content must:
- have no knowledge of, or financial benefit from, infringing activity on its network
- have a copyright policy and provide proper notification of that policy to its subscribers
- list an agent to deal with copyright complaints
While the safe harbor provisions provide a way for individuals to object to the removal of their materials once taken down, they do not require service providers to notify those individuals before their allegedly infringing materials are removed. If the material on your site does not infringe the intellectual property rights of a copyright owner and it has been improperly removed from the Web, you can file a counter-notice with the service provider, who must transmit it to the person who made the complaint. If the copyright owner does not notify the service provider within 14 business days that it has filed a claim against you in court, your materials can be restored to the Internet.
DMCA Subpoenas:
Report uses and abuses of DMCA section 512(h) subpoenas: Follow this link to report.
If someone is seeking your name without a reasonable claim of copyright infringement, that's an abuse: For example, if someone is using the subpoena to harass or defraud; if they've matched filenames, but not their content; if you weren't using the IP address listed (because of a typo or other error, such as because someone else was using a wireless network). Even if you did have copyrighted material on your computer, you might have a lawful right of fair use.
Chilling Effects is collecting these materials to help gather a record of how the DMCA is being used. Since 512(h) subpoenas are issued without prior judicial review (the subject may bring it before a judge with a motion to quash only after the subpoena has issued), we are concerned that subpoenas may be used to obtain identity information in cases where there is no copyright infringement. Chilling Effects seeks to document those cases.
See Subpoena Defense for more information.
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