Some More on Digital Archives

Although not directly on the point to the current Internet Archive case, this piecewritten by Adam Mathes, Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has some interesting discussion about archiving software programs for preservations purposes--as well as current exemptions to the DMCA that aid in that effort.

In addition to processing issues, this brings up some of the legal issues involved in the collection. The mere act of copying these digital works, especially for the eventual purpose of enabling access on a different hardware platform, should arguably be considered a fair use. However, if these disks have "copy protection" schemes, even outdated ones that can be bypassed, care must be used to make sure the collection does not run afoul of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Although recently Archive.org was given an exemption for particularly this reason it presents a considerable barrier and must be dealt with. (1) It may be helpful to amass multiple copies of the works in many formats to further bolster the legal backing to shift and archive the materials.

See also this reference:"Internet Archive Gets DMCA Exemption To Help Archive Vintage Software." Internet Archive. 2003. February 23, 2004.