ACLU takes on copyright law over block lists

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a suit Thursday challenging copyright rules that prevent researchers and consumers from examining lists of sites blocked by Internet filtering software.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, in Boston, takes on a provision in the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that makes it illegal to circumvent technological protection measures.

The ACLU said in a statement that this provision violates users' fair use rights, making it illegal for them to "look under the hood of the blocking products they buy."

Since companies that produce Internet filtering software often encrypt their lists of blocked sites, a user would have to hack the encryption to access the information, violating the DMCA's circumvention provision.

The suit was filed on behalf of researcher Benjamin Edelman who said he wants to examine a blocking program produced by Seattle-based N2H2 Inc., without worrying about legal ramifications. Edelman, who works for Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet & Society as a computer expert and consultant, has been a high-profile opponent of government mandated Net filtering and said he wants to examine N2H2's block list as part of his research.

Edelman's case also takes on N2H2's licensing agreement, which prohibits users from accessing the list of sites its software blocks.

The suit asks for a declaratory judgment saying that Edelman has a First Amendment right to examine N2H2's software and share his research tools and results with others.

The ACLU said that the case is particularly important given that some governments are now requiring the use of Net filtering software.

No one from N2H2 was immediately available to comment.

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