Does CSS, as a 40-bit algorithm, qualify as “effective” under 17 U.S.C. 1201?
17 U.S.C. 1201 seems to isolate its concerns over circumvention technology to that which bypasses “effective” access control measures. A number of people have suggested that CSS, as a very weak 40-bit algorithm, does not meet the criteria of being an “effective” access control measure, making DeCSS not prosecutable under 1201. (see question 3.5.1) According to 1201(a)(3)(B): a technological measure ”effectively controls access to a work” if the measure, in the ordinary course of its operation, requires the application of information, or a process or a treatment, with the authority of the copyright owner, to gain access to the work. This would seem to make the strength of the control irrelevant to the question of “effectiveness”.
