Here's a first-hand report from yesterday's Copyright Office hearings on exemptions to the DMCA. The Copyright Office had asked the public to come forward with examples of legitimate reasons to circumvent copy-control (an activity prohibited by the DMCA) and can use that testimony as the basis for forming exemptions to the DMCA.
The Internet Archive archives software and games (amongst other things) by copying the data onto hard drives and then running emulation programs to recreate the original operating environment. Mr. Kahle gave a cool slideshow while contemporaneously showing off actual disks and game boxes from many software and game titles we all grew up on. At one point he broke out a Ziplock bag containing an original 5 1/4" floppy disk from an Apple II. Mr. Kahle's cool exhibits, quirky personality, and energy breathed refreshing life into the proceedings.
Steve Metalitz responded to Mr. Kahle's requests for the exemption by repeatedly urging that since many software publishers from the early 80s, such as Microsoft, Lotus, etc., are still "being actively traded on NASDAQ everyday" that Mr. Kahle should simply ask for permission to circumvent the archaic anti-access and copying devices used back then (such as dongles and the like) rather than have the Copyright Office grant an exemption for this purpose. Amongst George Ziemann's intermittent interruptions, Mr. Kahle responded to Mr. Metalitz's comments by saying "you know, when we visit a company like Lotus and show them our copy of their software from 1984 to ask if they can help us decrypt its access control mechanisms, most of the time these guys are like WOW!, COOL!, WE HAVEN'T SEEN THAT THING IN AGES! CAN WE HAVE THAT?" Mr. Kahle then stated that these companies no longer maintain the hardware and software devices necessary to decrypt the aging software, and stated that software companies are in the business of releasing software not preserving antiquated versions, and that asking a software company for permission or help to decrypt their software is not an option.
(via Aaron Swartz)
