Library Of Congress Releases DMCA Anti-Circumvention Exemptions... And It's A Hot Mess

Well, the Library of Congress has now released its official exemptions to the DMCA's 1201 anti-circumvention rules, the ridiculous process known as the triennial review, and as was pretty much expected, it's a total mess. We'll have a more thorough look at it later, but after an initial read through of the document, it appears that the Library of Congress tried to please everyone and will likely end up pleasing no one. If you're unfamiliar with the process, under the DMCA, there's a part of the law, section 1201, which says that it's copyright infringement to bypass any kind of "technological protection method" (TPM) to access something, even if the reason you're circumventing the TPM is totally non-infringing. Basically, this says that if you put a digital lock on something, even if the lock is weak or stupid or for something totally unrelated to copyright law (such as blocking competition), you can use copyright law to stop anyone from getting around it. The concept is so stupid and so broad that even Congress realized it would be abused. But rather than fix it, it gave the Library of Congress this weird authorization to declare "exemptions" once every three years. So, basically, every three years people ask for exemptions (and each exemption granted in the past needs to be re-requested, and re-supported every three years). Then the Library of Congress climbs a mountain, thinks on it for a bit, and comes down the mountain declaring what is legal and what is not. It's an insane process. Three years ago, things went really haywire when the Library of Congress took away the exemption it had previously granted for cell phone unlocking. This resulted in widespread protests, and eventually Congress stepping in with a bill that didn't actually fix the underlying problem, but just reinstated the previous exemption and told the Library of Congress to be more careful next time. You can see in the latest exemptions that the Library of Congress has taken Congress's mocking a bit to heart -- as it seems totally gun shy on just about everything. It refers repeatedly to Congress's decision to bring back the unlocking exemption and reads more into it than is necessary. But, because of this, it seems to want to tiptoe down the line, allowing exemptions, but putting all sorts of weird restrictions on them. For example, one of the most talked about requests was the one for accessing vehicle diagnostics. You may recall that GM, John Deere and even the EPA said the Library should reject these requests, because people might get access to diagnostic info... and then break emissions controls and pollute the environment or something. Apparently, only the automakers should be allowed to do that by themselves. Here, the Library of Congress sort of grants that exemption, but with all sorts of caveats:

Computer programs that are contained in and control the functioning of a motorized land vehicle such as a personal automobile, commercial motor vehicle or mechanized agricultural vehicle, except for computer programs primarily designed for the control of telematics or entertainment systems for such vehicle, when circumvention is a necessary step undertaken by the authorized owner of the vehicle to allow the diagnosis, repair or lawful modification of a vehicle function; and where such circumvention does not constitute a violation of applicable law, including without limitation regulations promulgated by the Department of Transportation or the Environmental Protection Agency; and provided, however, that such circumvention is initiated no earlier than 12 months after the effective date of this regulation.

Even more bizarre, in the description about this exemption, it appears to say that this exemption can only be used if you are doing the circumvention yourself -- and not for hiring someone to do it for you. Absolutely ridiculously, it points to the language of the bill Congress passed to smack the Library around last time on the phone unlocking exemption:

Moreover,