The digital copyright law requires that electronic communications comply with applicable intellectual property law. It makes it mandatory that the contents of electronic communications conform to laws regarding copyright as spelled out in the Federal copyright Act of 1976. Anything contrary to the Act and in compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright law passed in Oct 1998, requires appropriate permission to distribute protected material in any form not limited to text, photographic images, audio, video, graphic illustrations and computer software and programs.
The US copyright law criminalizes any act of circumventing a system or electronic communication access control whether or not the copyright itself is violated.
It made it a criminal offence to produce, disseminates of technology that has the potential of circumventing measures to protect copyright works. These are some of the usefulness of the digital rights management (DRM) as spelt out in the United States copyright Law.
A copyright law similar to US copyright has been passed by the European Union known as Copyright Directive or simply EUCD. Each member of the European Union uses different legislation to ensure compliance with the EUCD.
In as much as the US copyright Law prohibits the use of digital copyright materials, a portion of the act known as Title 11 the “Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA) offers liability protection to online service providers (OSPs) and internet service providers (ISPs) provided they do not encourage or promote the use of unauthorized copyright works in their domains. A part of the OCILLA act also makes it possible for subpoenas to OSPs to reveal the identity of their users if the need ever arises.
In conclusion, the US copyright act has checks and balances to ensure that digital copyright works are protected from unnecessary abuses and infringements.
Reference:
Information Resources and Communications. Retrieved January 4, 2010 from http://www.ucop.edu/irc/policy/copycommit.html
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 U.S. Copyright Office Summary. Retrieved January 4, 2010 from http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf
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