Reverse engineering rule is unconstitutional, says ACLU

The suit was filed on behalf of Ben Edelman, a 22-year-old programmer who is researching internet filtering software. Edelman had testified as an expert witness in a case brought by the ACLU against a federal law that compelled libraries to install filtering software.

In that lawsuit, Edelman reviewed software sold by Seattle company N2H2, used to block web sites for public libraries and state governments. He claimed that such software is “fundamentally unable” to consistently block only pornographic web sites.

The suit also seeks an injunction that would bar N2H2 from suing Edelman under the DMCA. It is also asking the court to declare that the N2H2’s licence agreement for the filtering software is unenforceable, misuses copyright laws and is contrary to federal and state public policy.

This is because it forces licensees to accept a “fine print” contract requiring that they won’t attempt to access the list of blocked sites.

Mr Edelman said: the public has the right to know what is being blocked, and I believe I have the right to uncover this information without being subject to a corporate lawsuit.”

The DMCA provides for broad prohibitions against circumventing copy-protection techniques. Last year, the Library of Congress ruled that there is an exemption which applies to “compilations consisting of lists of web sites blocked by filtering software applications.” However the exemption does not cover researchers who write and distribute software that decodes the encrypted lists.