What are the DMCAs anti-circumvention provisions?
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is the latest amendment to copyright law, which introduced a new category of copyright violations that prohibit the “circumvention” of technical locks and controls on the use of digital content and products. These anti-circumvention provisions put the force of law behind any technological systems used by copyright owners to control access to and copying of their digital works. The DMCA contains four main provisions: • a prohibition on circumventing access controls [1201(a)(1)(A)]; • an access control circumvention device ban (sometimes called the “trafficking” ban) [1201(a)(2)]; • a copyright protection circumvention device ban [1201(b)]; and, • a prohibition on the removal of copyright management information (CMI) [1202(b)]. The first provision prohibits the act of circumventing technological protection systems, the second and third ban technological devices that facilitate the circumvention of access control or copy controls, and the fourth
