Internet Archive Gets DMCA Exemption To Help Archive Vintage Software (2003)

Petition number one, for example, from Eldridge Alexander, asked for this: http://copyright.gov/1201/2014/petitions/Alexander_Eldridge_...

The Copyright office's NPRM claims that it can only exempt narrow classes of works, rather than "all works in all media."

http://copyright.gov/fedreg/2014/79fr73856.pdf

They claim, "Sorry, we'd love to exempt all legal uses, but our hands are tied here... just look at all this legislative history..."

Let's set aside the dismissive straw man that these requests as asking for exemption to everything. Let's set aside the whether legislative history should be considered binding on a regulatory agency. I'm most frustrated that, once given a list of over twenty narrow classes of technologies, often raising fair use considerations, they proceed to exempt maybe three or six and ignore the rest.

According to Sec. 1201, the Librarian shall publish any class of copyrighted works for which the Librarian has determined, pursuant to the rulemaking conducted under subparagraph (C), that noninfringing uses by persons who are users of a copyrighted work are, or are likely to be, adversely affected.

Sec. 1201, correctly applied, should ensure that ALL noninfringing uses are protected.