Digital Millennium Copyright Act

❗This article is a stub. You can help by expanding it.

A moderator needs to check the page before this notice can be removed. Visit the noticeboard or the #appeals channel in either Zulip or Discord to request removal.

More info ▼

An article may be flagged as a stub when it is missing major elements needed to make it useful to a reader. You can help by adding missing sections, verifiable sources, relevant company policies and communications, etc. to make the article more complete.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a copyright law passed in 1998 to amend Title 17 of the United States Code. Among its provisions are criminalizing the production and dissemination of information intended to circumvent copy protections

that protect intellectual property, such as those considered digital rights management. It was later amended in 1998 to shield ISPs that consumers may use to access such information from liability.

The law also provides that the Library of Congress issue exemptions from the prohibition when it is shown that access-control technology has had a substantial adverse effect on the ability of people to make non-infringing uses of copyrighted works. These exemptions are not granted in perpetuity. They are revised every 3 years, and existing exemptions must be resubmitted for the next rulemaking cycle, along with any new ones.

This law is one of the earliest to address the digital multimedia era, in which earlier laws were deemed insufficient given the technology of the time (even though their effects cover all digital information). Although the law is meant to supplement intellectual property rights, there are concerns that it conflicts with consumers' interests. This is due to the specific text of the law, as well as to its interpretation being used to attack consumer activity that would otherwise be permitted. Concerns over Right to Repair, Fair Use, and an overall lack of valid paths to refute or redress accusations of violating the law remain.

Section 1201

Main article: DMCA Section 1201

Anti-Circumvention rule

The DMCA prohibits breaking any digital lock that "effectively controls access" to a copyrighted material. Initially created to prevent internet piracy, critics have been apt to point out how corporations have abused this legal restriction. Cory Doctorow argues that the rule prevents competition and "the creation of legitimate, otherwise legal technologies."