Business Implications of Anti-Circumvention Legislation & Recommendations for Copyright Users

Abstract

This article will introduce and compare the anti-circumvention provisions in both the WIPO Internet Treaties and the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Then, it will explore the major problems of the DMCA anti-circumvention provisions and their negative impacts for computer security professionals (such as financial cryptographers, and researchers of the cryptology community), new copyright creators and public users, by referring to some recent cases and examples. Finally, it will offer specific suggestions for the reform of the US anti-circumvention legislation. It will argue for establishing broad exemptions for anti-circumvention rules, and strengthening the controls on technological measures in order to strike fair balance of benefits for all interested parties (copyright holders, computer security researchers, new creators, and public users) in anti-circumvention legislation.