History

• Congress passed the Digital Millenium Copyright Act on October 12, 1998. President Bill Clinton signed the law on October 28, 1998.
  
  

Anti-Piracy and Copyright Codes

• The Digital Millennium Copyright Act makes it illegal to work around or override the anti-piracy protection embedded in computer programs in order to make illegal copies of them. It also makes illegal the use of any code-cracking devices to override the encryption of software, except in the case of testing for security of computer systems or for other research purposes.
  
  

Internet Service Providers

• The Act states that Internet service providers cannot be prosecuted in any type of piracy or copyright infringement case simply because their service was used to illegally transmit a pirated file. It does, however, require providers to remove content from websites that seems to break copyright laws.
  
  

Nonprofit Institutions

• Nonprofit educational institutions, such as colleges and universities, are also held exempt when their servers are used to transmit pirated files, provided that they remove questionable content when necessary.
  
  

Webcasters

• The Act states that webcasters must pay licensing fees to record companies if they use songs owned by them in any type of Internet-based broadcast.