Do anti-circumvention copyright laws harm innovation?
Absolutely. The anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA hinder innovation in a number of ways. Devices such as VCRs and portable MP3 players might not exist today if anti-circumvention laws had been in place when they were released. (An injunction against portable MP3 players was lifted just two days before the DMCA was signed into law.) Anti-circumvention laws can also be used to prevent competition. If copy protections cannot be circumvented, then it is impossible for computer scientists to “reverse engineer” software or devices in order to build compatible products. For example, if computer vendors had not been allowed to reverse-engineer certain computer chips, IBM would have remained the only producer of personal computers. Dell, Compaq, and Gateway would have never existed. In addition, anti-circumvention laws can be used to prevent interoperability. Microsoft’s networking protocols are proprietary and undocumented, so reverse engineering is required in order to allow Macintosh
