Friend of The Archive here- no it isn’t exempt from anything. It isn’t some magical blessed official entity- it’s just a wealthy benefactor and some people who feel we should be saving stuff. If someone complains loudly enough, they take things down. However they also don’t roll over on much. They have a substantial legal team and are fearless about “post now, ask questions later”. You have to complain very loudly indeed to get something removed, and it’s rare. There is tons of retro software preserved on Archive that is technically copyrighted, but the gamble is that the vast majority of these companies don’t care. The vast majority of the time, that is correct- very little has ever been removed after posting.
