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Digital Rules Stymie Library of Congress

Copyright restrictions make even routine archiving difficult

By Dustin Lushing,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 16, 2008 8:54 PM CDT

(Newser) – Anti-copyright laws are irritating not only casual music listeners or movie watchers who want to back up their digital media—even the Library of Congress is butting heads with the rules that forbid the duplication of copyrighted works, Ars Technica finds. And though the library has pushed for changes in the law, the calls have met deaf ears on Capitol Hill.

The library is grappling with a three-copy limit that stifles its ability to send digital files to scholars, and it is also having trouble preserving nearly boundless information that is "born digital." The Digital Millenium Copyright Act and DRM technology prevents the library from circumventing the copyright protections, making it hard even to store the data for public use.

A visitor uses a touch screen to look through a rough draft of the Constitution, at the Library of Congress Experience  in Washington on Wednesday April 9, 2008.
A visitor uses a touch screen to look through a rough draft of the Constitution, at the "Library of Congress Experience" in Washington on Wednesday April 9, 2008.   (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
The soundtrack from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey spins on a turntable.
The soundtrack from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey spins on a turntable.   (AP Photo/Troy Maben)
Digital rights management has complicated the archiving efforts at the Library of Congress for years, and its complains haven't registered on nearby Capitol Hill.
Digital rights management has complicated the archiving efforts at the Library of Congress for years, and its complains haven't registered on nearby Capitol Hill.   (File photo)
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