4 ms·

The headline makes it sound like IA gets a special exemption, but they don't. They got a DMCA anti-circumvention exemption passed allowing anyone to bypass DRM

The headline makes it sound like IA gets a special exemption, but they don't. They got a DMCA anti-circumvention exemption passed allowing anyone to bypass DRM on formats that use obsolete hardware. I regularly see people say IA can avoid DMCA strikes through a special exemption, but that is not the case. The rights holder could demand anything they archive be taken down, even these floppy disc games they secured an exemption for. It's great they got this passed, but it's not some major thing for them.

pabs3 4y ago
As a "library", IA also gets Section 108 copyright exemptions: https://copyrightalliance.org/education/copyright-law-explained/limitations-on-a-copyright-owners-rights/copyright-exceptions-libraries-archives/ https://copyrightalliance.org/education/copyright-law-explai... The rules are being updated for the digital age though: https://www.copyright.gov/policy/section108/ https://www.copyright.gov/policy/section108/
- ghaff 4y ago
  Nothing has actually happened yet though aside from lots of meetings. As the latter link explicitly says, the library/archive exception provides very little in the way of specific additional rights to digital archives.
danlugo92 4y ago
So the solution is as easy as modifying a law here and there and we could enable the archival humanity's progress?
capableweb 4y ago
One thing IA has going for them at least is that even though some material they have cannot be online and viewable by anyone, you can physically access their location and get access to any and all of the content, DMCA strikes be damned or not. Thanks to their library status if I'm not mistaken.
- MetaWhirledPeas 4y ago
  What if all lawyers were physicists too? We send electricity and light over wires and fibers to transfer the data using physics, thereby we are physically transferring the data.
  - karmakaze 4y ago
    Would matter replicators count?
  - capableweb 4y ago
    I think the argument is around accessibility and ability to copy it. If it's available from your home, everyone could easily access it and also easily copy it. If you have to go to a dedicated computer, at a physical location (California, US no less), basically only a small percentage of people actually have access to it, and are more or less unable to copy things at a grand scale.

pabs3 4y ago

As a "library", IA also gets Section 108 copyright exemptions: https://copyrightalliance.org/education/copyright-law-explained/limitations-on-a-copyright-owners-rights/copyright-exceptions-libraries-archives/ https://copyrightalliance.org/education/copyright-law-explai... The rules are being updated for the digital age though: https://www.copyright.gov/policy/section108/ https://www.copyright.gov/policy/section108/

ghaff 4y ago
Nothing has actually happened yet though aside from lots of meetings. As the latter link explicitly says, the library/archive exception provides very little in the way of specific additional rights to digital archives.

danlugo92 4y ago

So the solution is as easy as modifying a law here and there and we could enable the archival humanity's progress?

capableweb 4y ago

One thing IA has going for them at least is that even though some material they have cannot be online and viewable by anyone, you can physically access their location and get access to any and all of the content, DMCA strikes be damned or not. Thanks to their library status if I'm not mistaken.

MetaWhirledPeas 4y ago
What if all lawyers were physicists too? We send electricity and light over wires and fibers to transfer the data using physics, thereby we are physically transferring the data.
- karmakaze 4y ago
  Would matter replicators count?
- capableweb 4y ago
  I think the argument is around accessibility and ability to copy it. If it's available from your home, everyone could easily access it and also easily copy it. If you have to go to a dedicated computer, at a physical location (California, US no less), basically only a small percentage of people actually have access to it, and are more or less unable to copy things at a grand scale.