Library of Congress Grants DMCA Exceptions
The U.S. Library of Congress has created new narrow exemptions to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, a digital piracy statute that makes it illegal to crack digital copyright protections. In reviewing the act, regulators created four instances where it would be legal to crack digital protections. One can now legally crack codes to access lists of sites blocked by commercial Internet filtering software, but not spam-fighting lists; computer programs protected by hardware dongles that are broken or obsolete; computer programs or video games that use obsolete formats or hardware; and e-books that prevent read-alound or other handicapped access formats from functioning. The move was still
criticized by free-speech activists, who had hoped for more exceptions.
Feds Grant DMCA Exceptions
CNET News.com, October 28, 2003
