Sec. 511. Protection of technological measures designed to verify authenticity or provenance of machine-manipulated media
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In this section: The term machine-manipulated media has the meaning given such term in section 5724 of the Damon Paul Nelson and Matthew Young Pollard Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Years 2018, 2019, and 2020 ( Public Law 116–92 ; 50 U.S.C. 3024 note). The term State means each of the several States of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
No person shall knowingly and with the intent or substantial likelihood of deceiving a third party, enable, facilitate, or conceal the subversion of a technological measure designed to verify the authenticity, modifications, or conveyance of machine-manipulated media, or characteristics of the provenance of the machine-manipulated media, by generating information about the authenticity of a piece of content that is knowingly false. No person shall knowingly and for financial benefit, enable, facilitate, or conceal the subversion of a technological measure described in paragraph
(1)by distributing machine-manipulated media with knowingly false information about the authenticity of a piece of machine-manipulated media. No person shall deliberately manufacture, import, or offer to the public a technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof that— is primarily designed or produced and promoted for the purpose of circumventing, removing, or otherwise disabling a technological measure described in paragraph
(1)with the intent or substantial likelihood of deceiving a third party about the authenticity of a piece of machine-manipulated media; has only limited commercially significant or expressive purpose or use other than to circumvent, remove, or otherwise disable a technological measure designed to verify the authenticity of machine-manipulated media and is promoted for such purposes; or is marketed by that person or another acting in concert with that person with that person’s knowledge for use in circumventing, removing, or otherwise disabling a technological measure described in paragraph
(1)with an intent to deceive a third party about the authenticity of a piece of machine-manipulated media. Nothing in subsection
(b)shall inhibit the ability of any individual to access, read, or review a technological measure described in paragraph
(1)of such subsection or to access, read, or review the provenance, modification, or conveyance information contained therein. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, subsection
(b)shall not apply to a nonprofit library, archives, or educational institution which generates, distributes, or otherwise handles machine-manipulated media. The exception in subparagraph
(A)shall not apply to a nonprofit library, archive, or educational institution that willfully for the purpose of commercial advantage, financial gain, or in furtherance of tortious conduct violates a provision of subsection (b), except that a nonprofit library, archive, or educational institution that willfully for the purpose of commercial advantage, financial gain, or in furtherance of tortious conduct violates a provision of subsection
(b)shall— for the first offense, be subject to the civil remedies under subsection (d); and for repeated or subsequent offenses, in addition to the civil remedies under subsection (d), forfeit the exemption provided under subparagraph (A). This paragraph may not be used as a defense to a claim under paragraph
(3)of subsection (b), nor may this subsection permit a nonprofit library, archive, or educational institution to manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide, or otherwise traffic in any technology, product, service, component, or part thereof, that circumvents a technological measure described in paragraph
(1)of such subsection. In order for a library or archive to qualify for the exemption under subparagraph (A), the collections of that library or archive shall be— open to the public; or available not only to researchers affiliated with the library or archive or with the institution of which it is a part, but also to other persons doing research in a specialized field. In this paragraph: The term circumvention means to remove, deactivate, disable, or impair a technological measure designed to verify the authenticity of machine-manipulated media or characteristics of its provenance, modifications, or conveyance. The term interoperability means the ability of— computer programs to exchange information; and such programs mutually to use the information which has been exchanged. An authorized user of a technological measure described in subsection (b)(1) may circumvent such technological measure for the sole purpose of identifying and analyzing those elements of the technological measure that are necessary to achieve interoperability with that authorized user’s own technological measures intended for similar purposes of verifying the authenticity of machine-manipulated media or characteristics of its provenance, modifications, or conveyance. Subsection
(b)does not prohibit any lawfully authorized investigative, protective, information security, or intelligence activity of an officer, agent, or employee of the United States, a State, or a political subdivision of a State, or a person acting pursuant to a contract with the United States, a State, or a political subdivision of a State. The Attorney General may bring a civil action in an appropriate United States district court against any person who violates subsection (b). In an action brought under paragraph (1), the court— may grant temporary and permanent injunctions on such terms as it deems reasonable to prevent or restrain a violation, but in no event shall impose a prior restraint on free speech or the press protected under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States; at any time while an action is pending, may order the impounding, on such terms as it deems reasonable, of any device or product that is in the custody or control of the alleged violator and that the court has reasonable cause to believe was involved in a violation; may award damages under paragraph (3); in its discretion may allow the recovery of costs against any party other than the United States or an officer thereof; and may, as part of a final judgment or decree finding a violation, order the remedial modification or the destruction of any device or product involved in the violation that is in the custody or control of the violator or has been impounded under subparagraph (B). Except as otherwise provided in this section, a person committing a violation of subsection
(b)is liable for statutory damages as provided in subparagraph (C). At any time before final judgment is entered, the Attorney General may elect to recover an award of statutory damages for each violation of subsection
(b)in the sum of not less than $200 or more than $2,500 per act of circumvention, device, product, component, offer, or performance of service, as the court considers just. At any time before final judgment is entered, the Attorney General may elect to recover an award of statutory damages for each violation of subsection
(b)in the sum of not less than $2,500 or more than $25,000. In any case in which the Attorney General sustains the burden of proving, and the court finds, that a person has violated subsection
(b)within 3 years after a final judgment was entered against the person for another such violation, the court may increase the award of damages up to triple the amount that would otherwise be awarded, as the court considers just. The court in its discretion may reduce or remit the total award of damages in any case in which the violator sustains the burden of proving, and the court finds, that the violator was not aware and had no reason to believe that its acts constituted a violation. In the case of a nonprofit library, archive, educational institution, or public broadcasting entity, the court shall remit damages in any case in which the library, archive, educational institution, or public broadcasting entity sustains the burden of proving, and the court finds, that the library, archive, educational institution, or public broadcasting entity was not aware and had no reason to believe that its acts constituted a violation.
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Sec. 511
Protection of technological measures designed to verify authenticity or provenance of machine-manipulated media
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