Wyden, Polis Bow Bill Adding Exemptions to DMCA for 'Legitimate' Hacking
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., jointly introduced the Breaking Down Barriers to Innovation Act Thursday in a bid to revamp the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to allow for “legitimate” forms of hacking. The bill would…
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exempt circumvention of access controls and technological protection measures for some legitimate purposes from DMCA prohibitions, including for security research, journalism, personal device repair and the development of accessible forms of copyrighted works for the disabled. “The DMCA’s copyright restrictions make us more vulnerable to cyberattacks and stifle innovation,” Wyden said in a news release. “It reforms a bad law that inhibits technological innovation.” Polis said in the news release that the bill “makes sensible reforms to an antiquated law, reforms that will benefit journalism, research, privacy rights, and freedom of expression.” The Library Copyright Alliance said in a statement that the bill would correct issues with the Library of Congress’ current DMCA exceptions rulemaking process by allowing previously granted exemptions to automatically renew every three years. “This would provide greater certainty to libraries, educators and disabled individuals who rely on the exemptions, and would eliminate the burden of reapplying every three years,” LCA said. Public Knowledge Vice President-Legal Affairs Sherwin Siy said in a news release that the Breaking Down Barriers to Innovation Act would “vastly improve” unintentional misuse of the DMCA “by fixing a number of lingering problems with the triennial rulemaking process designed to ease the burden that the law places on lawful users. By ensuring that those requesting exemptions do not need to meet a punishingly high burden of proof, and allowing past granted exemptions to be renewed more easily, the bill makes substantial strides to addressing the process problems that many, including the House IP Subcommittee, have recognized.”