Locking Down the Library: How Copyright, Contract, and Cybertrespass Block Internet Archiving

44 Pages Posted: 1 Mar 2012 Last revised: 21 Aug 2014

See all articles by Rebecca Bolin

Rebecca Bolin

Yale Law School Information Society Project

Date Written: 2006

Abstract

Internet archiving has kept millions of websites from disappearing completely. Yet this ambitious effort, the largest archiving project in history, is neither legal nor comprehensive. Archives are rampant copyright infringers with no recourse to traditional library and affirmative defenses. Further, sophisticated authors have started “protecting” their creations with restrictive contracts, technical restrictions, and the shaky cybertrespass doctrine. Our legal regime has strayed from the constitutional values underlying copyright. Despite the social value in preserving cultural expression, the law has evolved to encompass a de facto right to withdraw and opt out of history itself.

Keywords: copyright, library, first-sale, cybertrespass, robots

Suggested Citation

Bolin, Rebecca, Locking Down the Library: How Copyright, Contract, and Cybertrespass Block Internet Archiving (2006). Hastings Communications and Entertainment Law Journal, Vol. 29, No. 1, 2006, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2013499

Rebecca Bolin (Contact Author)

Yale Law School Information Society Project ( email )

127 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
United States

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