ad hoc exemptions

TPM exceptions review

Following my post on the ALRC’s reference re exceptions in the digital environment, a couple of people kindly pointed out the Attorney General’s department is also conducting a review of the exceptions to technological protection measures.

A technological protection measure is … well, anyway, since the Sony v Stevens stuff up, the definition has been “fixed up” to close that gulf by adding access control technological protection measure as well.

Section 116AN provides for a number of exceptions – e.g. interoperability, encryption testing, security testing, online privacy, law enforcement and national security, libraries – and s 116AN(9) provides a regulation making power to create additional exceptions.

The existing “additional” exceptions are found in Schedule 10A of the Copyright Regulations.

The US Copyright Office is currently a large way through its 5th 3 year “ad hoc” rulemaking exercise for the counterpart arrangements under the US Act.

The review’s home page is here and the pdf of the issues paper is here.

Submissions about the exceptions should be in by 17 August 2012

Responses to those submissions should be in by 5 October 2012.

(Congratulations to the AGD for a sensible, structured approach to submissions which recognises that some people will definitely have something to say about what other people submit!)

Lid dip:

Alison Bradshaw

@ADA_ellenbroad

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New DMCA exemptions

The Librarian of Congress has announced 6 new categories of exemption from the prohibitions under US law against circumventing DRM mechanisms (what we call TPM and ERMI).

The (Australian) Copyright Council has a nice bullet point summary.

Jonathon Bailey, at Plagiarism Today, looks at the politics and the ramifications from a practical perspective. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he didn’t spend a fair bit of time on the issue in his weekly podcast, so check back to his site on, say, Monday.

Now, the Librarian of Congress’ exemptions are applicable under US law only. Our law does contemplate the introduction of additional, so-called “ad hoc” exemptions against circumventing access control tpm, by means of the Regulations: s 116AN(9), Sch. 10A of the regs has 6 nice categories of exemption. These were added way back in 2006 around the time we had a review to find out if we should have some more. Wonder if someone, somewhere is thinking we should investigate some more?

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