On Wed, Oct 28, 1998, Larry Helfer <larry.helfer[_at_]lls.edu> wrote:
>
> Anyone parsing through the "joint explanatory statement" released by
> the Conference Committee in connection with the final version of the
> Digital Millenium Copyright Act will find only limited discussion of
> the "five general categories" of internet service provider liability
> limitations set forth in section 202 of the statute. Much more
> detailed discussion is found in House Report 105-796 (part 2) on
> HR 2281. The Senate appears to have "receded" to HR 2281, as
> explained in the explanatory report, although I would certainly
> welcome confirmation from anyone more familiar with the legislative
> history as to whether H Rep. 105-796, part 2 is the most authoritative
> source for construction of sec. 202 of the Act. (There is also a
> part 1 of the report, but that appears to reference an earlier version
> of the bill that does not match the final language of section 202).
>
> Both versions of the House Report can be found by means of a simple
> search at http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas2.html
The service provider liability limitations in the DMCA (Title II) first appeared in the Senate-passed version of the bill. The most authoritative discussion of these provisions appears in Senate Report 105-190, which is the Senate Judiciary Committee report. The relevant House legislative history documents are House Report 105-551 part II, the House Commerce Committee report, and House Judiciary Committee Print Serial #6 (September 1998), which is a sectional analysis of the DMCA as passed by the House. You will find that, with regard to service provider liability, both these House documents track the Senate report, with only minor differences. The only provision of Title II of the DMCA that first emerged from the conference committee is the new section 512(e), providing some special liability rules for nonprofit higher education institutions. The authoritative legislative history on this provision is contained in the conference committee report (House Report 105-796).
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