Really good read...

On the (potential) impact of the DMCA on research...

One thing I like about the presentation of the article is that it really focuses on the research. It's easy to look on the overall impact of the DMCA but maybe a better way to approach it is to look at it's impact on individual sections or targets.

For the purpose of this Article, let us assume that the basic objective of the anti-circumvention provisions—the desire to help copyright owners use technology to protect their works—is a good one, or at least unobjectionable. In pursuing this objective, what impact does the DMCA, as currently drafted, have on the ability of academic encryption researchers to pursue their scientific research? And how should we evaluate this impact, as a normative matter?

One thing I would add, which I think is touched upon in a tangential manner, is: imagine the lock in the bicycle is a two step process, and that the researcher wants to study the second part but doesn't have the technical know-how to address the first part. Clearly, he might (or will) not have the ability to go find that knowledge, particularily if the people he would ask for help aren't part of the "circle" of people allowed to break into such technology. This would be another hurdle preventing the researcher from studying a particular encryption technology.