[game_preservation] More good news re: DMCA

[Henry Lowood]

All (sending to both NDIIPP and IGDA groups):

I just checked the Copyright Office's announcement, and it includes two 
other relevant exemptions:

source: http://www.copyright.gov/1201/

exemptions 4 and 5 are relevant to game preservation, though not big 
winners -- they open up some interesting doors. Depending on how 
"dongle" is definied, 5 could actually be quite helpful (similar 
language was in the old videogame exemption that expired). Also, and 
this is a stretch, I wonder if 4 might be a way to copy MMO server-side 
software, in that you would have to address the user authentication 
system?  To be honest, I'm not sure what a use case for that exemption 
would be. Any ideas?

text:

The Librarian of Congress has announced the classes of works subject to 
the exemption from the prohibition against circumvention of 
technological measures that control access to copyrighted works. Persons 
making noninfringing uses of the following six classes of works will not 
be subject to the prohibition against circumventing access controls (17 
U.S.C. § 1201(a)(1)) until the conclusion of the next rulemaking.

(1) Motion pictures on DVDs that are lawfully made and acquired and that 
are protected by the Content Scrambling System when circumvention is 
accomplished solely in order to accomplish the incorporation of short 
portions of motion pictures into new works for the purpose of criticism 
or comment, and where the person engaging in circumvention believes and 
has reasonable grounds for believing that circumvention is necessary to 
fulfill the purpose of the use in the following instances:

    (i)  Educational uses by college and university professors and by
    college and university film and media studies students;
    (ii) Documentary filmmaking;
    (iii) Noncommercial videos.

(2) Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute 
software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole 
purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications, when they 
have been lawfully obtained, with computer programs on the telephone 
handset.

(3) Computer programs, in the form of firmware or software, that enable 
used wireless telephone handsets to connect to a wireless 
telecommunications network, when circumvention is initiated by the owner 
of the copy of the computer program solely in order to connect to a 
wireless telecommunications network and access to the network is 
authorized by the operator of the network.

/(4) Video games accessible on personal computers and protected by 
technological protection measures that control access to lawfully 
obtained works, when circumvention is accomplished solely for the 
purpose of good faith testing for, investigating, or correcting security 
flaws or vulnerabilities, if:/

    /(i)  The information derived from the security testing is used
    primarily to promote the security of the owner or operator of a
    computer, computer system, or computer network; and
    (ii) The information derived from the security testing is used or
    maintained in a manner that does not facilitate copyright
    infringement or a violation of applicable law./

/(5) Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to 
malfunction or damage and which are obsolete.  A dongle shall be 
considered obsolete if it is no longer manufactured or if a replacement 
or repair is no longer reasonably available in the commercial 
marketplace; and/

(6) Literary works distributed in ebook format when all existing ebook 
editions of the work (including digital text editions made available by 
authorized entities) contain access controls that prevent the enabling 
either of the book's read-aloud function or of screen readers that 
render the text into a specialized format.


-- 
Henry Lowood
Curator for History of Science&  Technology Collections;
   Film&  Media Collections
HRG, Green Library, 557 Escondido Mall
Stanford University Libraries, Stanford CA 94305-6004
650-723-4602; lowood at stanford.edu; http://www.stanford.edu/~lowood

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