---
created_at: '2015-01-07T01:31:26.000Z'
title: Internet Archive Gets DMCA Exemption To Help Archive Vintage Software (2003)
url: https://archive.org/about/dmca.php
author: tosh
points: 48
story_text: ''
comment_text: 
num_comments: 8
story_id: 
story_title: 
story_url: 
parent_id: 
created_at_i: 1420594286
_tags:
- story
- author_tosh
- story_8848320
objectID: '8848320'

---
[Source](https://archive.org/about/dmca.php "Permalink to Internet Archive Gets DMCA Exemption To Help Archive Vintage Software")

# Internet Archive Gets DMCA Exemption To Help Archive Vintage Software

[Skip to main content][1]

Search the history of over 310 billion [web pages][2] on the Internet. 

![Wayback Machine][3]

search Search the Wayback Machine

##### Featured

[texts All Texts][4] [latest This Just In][5] [Smithsonian Libraries][6] [FEDLINK (US)][7] [Genealogy][8] [Lincoln Collection][9] [Additional Collections][10]

[eBooks & Texts][4]

##### Top

[American Libraries][11] [Canadian Libraries][12] [Universal Library][13] [Community Texts][14] [Project Gutenberg][15] [Biodiversity Heritage Library][16] [Children's Library][17]

![][18][**Open Library**][19]

[Books to Borrow][20]

##### Featured

[movies All Video][21] [latest This Just In][22] [Prelinger Archives][23] [Democracy Now!][24] [Occupy Wall Street][25] [TV NSA Clip Library][26]

[TV News][27]

##### Top

[Animation & Cartoons][28] [Arts & Music][29] [Community Video][30] [Computers & Technology][31] [Cultural & Academic Films][32] [Ephemeral Films][33] [Movies][34]

[Understanding 9/11][35]

[News & Public Affairs][36] [Spirituality & Religion][37] [Sports Videos][38] [Television][39] [Videogame Videos][40] [Vlogs][41] [Youth Media][42]

##### Featured

[audio All Audio][43] [latest This Just In][44] [Grateful Dead][45] [Netlabels][46] [Old Time Radio][47] [78 RPMs and Cylinder Recordings][48]

[Live Music Archive][49]

##### Top

[Audio Books & Poetry][50] [Community Audio][51] [Computers & Technology][52] [Music, Arts & Culture][53] [News & Public Affairs][54] [Non-English Audio][55] [Podcasts][56]

[Librivox Free Audiobook][57]

[Radio Programs][58] [Spirituality & Religion][59]

##### Featured

[software All Software][60] [latest This Just In][61] [Old School Emulation][62] [MS-DOS Games][63] [Historical Software][64] [Classic PC Games][65] [Software Library][66]

[Internet Arcade][67]

##### Top

[Community Software][68] [APK][69] [MS-DOS][70] [CD-ROM Software][71] [IPA Software][72] [Software Sites][73] [Tucows Software Library][74]

[Console Living Room][75]

[Shareware CD-ROMs][76] [CD-ROM Images][77] [Vintage Software][78] [ZX Spectrum][79] [DOOM Level CD][80] [ZX Spectrum Library: Games][81] [Vectrex][82]

##### Featured

[image All Image][83] [latest This Just In][84] [Flickr Commons][85] [Occupy Wall Street Flickr][86] [Cover Art][87] [USGS Maps][88]

[Metropolitan Museum][89]

##### Top

[NASA Images][90] [Solar System Collection][91] [Ames Research Center][92]

[Brooklyn Museum][93]

* [web][94]
* [texts][95]
* [movies][96]
* [audio][97]
* [software][98]
* [image][99]
* [logo][100]
* Toggle navigation

    * [ABOUT][101]
    * [CONTACT][102]
    * [BLOG][103]
    * [PROJECTS][104]
    * [HELP][105]
    * [DONATE][106]
    * [JOBS][107]
    * [VOLUNTEER][108]
    * [PEOPLE][109]
* [search][110]

Search metadata (default) Search text contents Search TV news captions Search archived web sites [Advanced Search][111]

* [upload][112]
* [personSIGN IN][113]
* [ABOUT][101]
* [CONTACT][102]
* [BLOG][103]
* [PROJECTS][104]
* [HELP][105]
* [DONATE][106]
* [JOBS][107]
* [VOLUNTEER][108]
* [PEOPLE][109]

# Internet Archive Gets DMCA Exemption To Help Archive Vintage Software

![][114]

Internet Archive Gets DMCA Exemption To Help Archive Vintage Software

In 2003 the Internet Archive, as part of research into vintage software archiving, discovered possible archiving issues involving the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. This could make it impossible to legally archive early computer software and games, even for accredited institutions wishing to store limited amounts of non-distributable, archival images.

It's vital to make proper archival copies of these artefacts, because the life of magnetic media such as floppy discs has been estimated at 10 to 30 years. Time is running out to properly archive much of this large body of work for safekeeping, to ensure it lives out its term of copyright and is available ( in the short-term, under suitable copyright-constrained means) for posterity.

The Copyright Office holds a [rulemaking proceeding][115] every 3 years to:

_"determine whether there are particular classes of works as to which users are, or are likely to be, adversely affected in their ability to make noninfringing uses due to the prohibition on circumvention of access controls."_

As part of this rulemaking process, the Internet Archive submitted an [initial comment][116] in early 2003, and followed this up with a [reply comment][117] giving further examples of classic software that might be lost if access controls could not be circumvented. 

Following deliberation, the Copyright Office ruled in late October 2003 that [four exemptions should be added][118] to the anti-circumvention clause of the DMCA, to be valid until the next Copyright Office rulemaking in 2006, including two that are related to the Internet Archive's original comments: 

_

* Computer programs protected by dongles that prevent access due to malfunction or damage and which are obsolete.
* Computer programs and video games distributed in formats that have become obsolete and which require the original media or hardware as a condition of access.
_

With the aid of these exemptions, the Internet Archive is continuing its work with institutional and technical partners to research and archive this [at-risk software][119], and would like to thank all those who worked hard to help us achieve our goal.

[1]: https://archive.org#maincontent
[2]: https://blog.archive.org/2016/10/23/defining-web-pages-web-sites-and-web-captures/
[3]: https://archive.org/images/WaybackLogoSmall.png
[4]: https://archive.org/details/texts
[5]: https://archive.org/search.php?query=mediatype:texts&sort=-publicdate
[6]: https://archive.org/details/smithsonian "Smithsonian Libraries"
[7]: https://archive.org/details/fedlink "FEDLINK (US)"
[8]: https://archive.org/details/genealogy "Genealogy"
[9]: https://archive.org/details/lincolncollection "Lincoln Collection"
[10]: https://archive.org/details/additional_collections "Additional Collections"
[11]: https://archive.org/details/americana "American Libraries"
[12]: https://archive.org/details/toronto "Canadian Libraries"
[13]: https://archive.org/details/universallibrary "Universal Library"
[14]: https://archive.org/details/opensource "Community Texts"
[15]: https://archive.org/details/gutenberg "Project Gutenberg"
[16]: https://archive.org/details/biodiversity "Biodiversity Heritage Library"
[17]: https://archive.org/details/iacl "Children's Library"
[18]: https://archive.org/images/widgetOL.png
[19]: https://openlibrary.org
[20]: https://archive.org/details/inlibrary "Books to Borrow"
[21]: https://archive.org/details/movies
[22]: https://archive.org/search.php?query=mediatype:movies&sort=-publicdate
[23]: https://archive.org/details/prelinger "Prelinger Archives"
[24]: https://archive.org/details/democracy_now_vid "Democracy Now!"
[25]: https://archive.org/details/occupywallstreet "Occupy Wall Street"
[26]: https://archive.org/details/nsa "TV NSA Clip Library"
[27]: https://archive.org/details/tv
[28]: https://archive.org/details/animationandcartoons "Animation & Cartoons"
[29]: https://archive.org/details/artsandmusicvideos "Arts & Music"
[30]: https://archive.org/details/opensource_movies "Community Video"
[31]: https://archive.org/details/computersandtechvideos "Computers & Technology"
[32]: https://archive.org/details/culturalandacademicfilms "Cultural & Academic Films"
[33]: https://archive.org/details/ephemera "Ephemeral Films"
[34]: https://archive.org/details/moviesandfilms "Movies"
[35]: https://archive.org/details/911
[36]: https://archive.org/details/newsandpublicaffairs "News & Public Affairs"
[37]: https://archive.org/details/spiritualityandreligion "Spirituality & Religion"
[38]: https://archive.org/details/sports "Sports Videos"
[39]: https://archive.org/details/television "Television"
[40]: https://archive.org/details/gamevideos "Videogame Videos"
[41]: https://archive.org/details/vlogs "Vlogs"
[42]: https://archive.org/details/youth_media "Youth Media"
[43]: https://archive.org/details/audio
[44]: https://archive.org/search.php?query=mediatype:audio&sort=-publicdate
[45]: https://archive.org/details/GratefulDead "Grateful Dead"
[46]: https://archive.org/details/netlabels "Netlabels"
[47]: https://archive.org/details/oldtimeradio "Old Time Radio"
[48]: https://archive.org/details/78rpm "78 RPMs and Cylinder Recordings"
[49]: https://archive.org/details/etree
[50]: https://archive.org/details/audio_bookspoetry "Audio Books & Poetry"
[51]: https://archive.org/details/opensource_audio "Community Audio"
[52]: https://archive.org/details/audio_tech "Computers & Technology"
[53]: https://archive.org/details/audio_music "Music, Arts & Culture"
[54]: https://archive.org/details/audio_news "News & Public Affairs"
[55]: https://archive.org/details/audio_foreign "Non-English Audio"
[56]: https://archive.org/details/audio_podcast "Podcasts"
[57]: https://archive.org/details/librivoxaudio
[58]: https://archive.org/details/radioprograms "Radio Programs"
[59]: https://archive.org/details/audio_religion "Spirituality & Religion"
[60]: https://archive.org/details/software
[61]: https://archive.org/search.php?query=mediatype:software&sort=-publicdate
[62]: https://archive.org/details/tosec "Old School Emulation"
[63]: https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos_games "MS-DOS Games"
[64]: https://archive.org/details/historicalsoftware "Historical Software"
[65]: https://archive.org/details/classicpcgames "Classic PC Games"
[66]: https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary "Software Library"
[67]: https://archive.org/details/internetarcade
[68]: https://archive.org/details/open_source_software "Community Software"
[69]: https://archive.org/details/apkarchive "APK"
[70]: https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos "MS-DOS"
[71]: https://archive.org/details/cd-roms "CD-ROM Software"
[72]: https://archive.org/details/ipaarchive "IPA Software"
[73]: https://archive.org/details/softwaresites "Software Sites"
[74]: https://archive.org/details/tucows "Tucows Software Library"
[75]: https://archive.org/details/consolelivingroom
[76]: https://archive.org/details/cdbbsarchive "Shareware CD-ROMs"
[77]: https://archive.org/details/cdromimages "CD-ROM Images"
[78]: https://archive.org/details/vintagesoftware "Vintage Software"
[79]: https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_zx_spectrum "ZX Spectrum"
[80]: https://archive.org/details/doom-cds "DOOM Level CD"
[81]: https://archive.org/details/zx_spectrum_library_games "ZX Spectrum Library: Games"
[82]: https://archive.org/details/vectrex "Vectrex"
[83]: https://archive.org/details/image
[84]: https://archive.org/search.php?query=mediatype:image&sort=-publicdate
[85]: https://archive.org/details/flickrcommons "Flickr Commons"
[86]: https://archive.org/details/flickr-ows "Occupy Wall Street Flickr"
[87]: https://archive.org/details/coverartarchive "Cover Art"
[88]: https://archive.org/details/maps_usgs "USGS Maps"
[89]: https://archive.org/details/metropolitanmuseumofart-gallery
[90]: https://archive.org/details/nasa
[91]: https://archive.org/details/solarsystemcollection
[92]: https://archive.org/details/amesresearchcenterimagelibrary
[93]: https://archive.org/details/brooklynmuseum
[94]: https://archive.org/web/ "Web"
[95]: https://archive.org/details/texts "Texts"
[96]: https://archive.org/details/movies "Video"
[97]: https://archive.org/details/audio "Audio"
[98]: https://archive.org/details/software "Software"
[99]: https://archive.org/details/image "Image"
[100]: https://archive.org/
[101]: https://archive.org/about/
[102]: https://archive.org/about/contact.php
[103]: https://blog.archive.org
[104]: https://archive.org/projects
[105]: https://archive.org/about/faqs.php
[106]: https://archive.org/donate
[107]: https://archive.org/about/jobs.php
[108]: https://archive.org/about/volunteerpositions.php
[109]: https://archive.org/about/bios.php
[110]: https://archive.org/search.php
[111]: https://archive.org/advancedsearch.php
[112]: https://archive.org/create "Upload"
[113]: https://archive.org/account/login.php
[114]: https://archive.org/dmca/software.jpg
[115]: http://www.copyright.gov/1201/
[116]: http://www.copyright.gov/1201/2003/comments/025.pdf
[117]: http://www.copyright.gov/1201/2003/reply/015.pdf
[118]: http://www.copyright.gov/1201/docs/librarian_statement_01.html
[119]: http://archive.org/about/dmca/copyrightoffice.ppt

