112 STAT. 2866
PUBLIC LAW 105-304—OCT. 28, 1998
"(4) Nothing in this section shall enlarge or diminish any rights
of free speech or the press for activities using consumer electronics,
telecommunications, or computing products.
"(d) EXEMPTION FOR NONPROFIT LIBRARIES, ARCHIVES, AND EDU-
CATIONAL INSTITUTIONS. —(1) A nonprofit library, archives, or educational institution which gains access to a commercially exploited
copyrighted work solely in order to make a good faith determination
of whether to acquire a copy of that work for the sole purpose
of engaging in conduct permitted under this title shall not be
in violation of subsection (a)(1)(A). A copy of a work to which
access has been gained under this paragraph—
"(A) may not be retained longer than necessary to make
such good faith determination; and
"(B) may not be used for any other purpose.
"(2) The exemption made available under paragraph (1) shall
only apply with respect to a work when an identical copy of that
work is not reasonably available in another form.
"(3) A nonprofit library, archives, or educational institution
that willfully for the purpose of commercial advantage or financial
gain violates paragraph (1)—
"(A) shall, for the first offense, be subject to the civil
remedies under section 1203; and
"(B) shall, for repeated or subsequent offenses, in addition
to the civil remedies under section 1203, forfeit the exemption
provided under paragraph (1).
"(4) This subsection may not be used as a defense to a claim
under subsection (a)(2) or (b), nor may this subsection permit a
nonprofit library, archives, or educational institution to manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide, or otherwise traffic in
any technology, product, service, component, or part thereof, which
circumvents a technological measure.
"(5) In order for a library or archives to qualify for the exemption under this subsection, the collections of that library or archives
shall be—
"(A) open to the public; or
"(B) available not only to researchers affiliated with the
library or archives or with the institution of which it is a
part, but also to other persons doing research in a specialized
field.
" (e) LAW ENFORCEMENT, INTELLIGENCE, AND OTHER GOVERN-
MENT ACTIVITIES.— This section does not prohibit any lawfully
authorized investigative, protective, information security, or intelligence activity of an officer, agent, or employee of the United
States, a State, or a political subdivision of a State, or a person
acting pursuant to a contract with the United States, a State,
or a political subdivision of a State. For purposes of this subsection,
the term 'information security' means activities carried out in order
to identify and address the vulnerabilities of a government computer, computer system, or computer network.
"(f) REVERSE ENGINEERING.— (1) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a)(1)(A), a person who has lawfully obtained
the right to use a copy of a computer program may circumvent
a technological measure that effectively controls access to a particular portion of that program for the sole purpose of identifying
and analyzing those elements of the program that are necessary
to achieve interoperability of an independently created computer
program with other programs, and that have not previously been
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