Preserving the right of access to copyrighted works based on data regulation

Toy Story 2 only exists because one of the movie's directors had made a backup copy of the movie while she worked from home, otherwise the movie would have been lost due to a computer malfunction. Just as though content access through the internet was intended to allow for works to become more easily accessible, there is no guarantee that they will remain this way. How, then, do we assure users and creators have not only a right to access content made available online, but also a right to preserve such access? This article intends to answer this question by analyzing US Copyright regulation, how it regulates access and preservation of works, and, especially, how it does not. I argue that a policy proposal regarding a right to preserve access could be had based on data protection regulation. Getting inspiration from the way recent data regulation legislation forced different providers that operate on the internet to adapt their terms into a regulatory “common ground,” this article claims users would be benefited if they could preserve the right of access to works they legally acquired the same way as they have access to and can make copies of their personal data in these services.