Section 1201 of Title 17: A Report of the Register of Copyrights

Citation
U.S. Copyright Office, Section 1201 of Title 17: A Report of the Register of Copyrights (June 2017) (full-text).

Overview
This is the first comprehensive public study assessing the operation of section 1201 of Title 17, United States Code. Enacted in 1998 as part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA"), Section 1201 prohibits the circumvention of technological measures employed by or on behalf of copyright owners to protect access to their work]s (also known as "access controls"), as well as the trafficking in technology or services that facilitate such circumvention.

It also prohibits trafficking in technologies or services that facilitate circumvention of technological measures that protect the exclusive rights granted to copyright owners under Title 17 (also known as "copy controls").

In addition, section 1201 establishes a triennial rulemaking process through which the Librarian of Congress, following a public proceeding conducted by the Register of Copyrights in consultation with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the Department of Commerce ("NTIA"), may grant limited exceptions to the bar on circumventing access controls.