NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Strangling the Net: Stripping DMCA Protections from YouTube
Strangling the Net: Stripping DMCA Protections from YouTube
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000716.html
Greetings. An amicus curiae brief was filed a few days ago by the
Washington Legal Foundation in the ongoing Viacom vs. YouTube/Google
lawsuit ( http://bit.ly/bN18dt [PDF - Lauren's Blog] ).
Even by the normal standards of our adversarial legal system, this
brief is startling not only in the depth of its misleading and just
plain inaccurate arguments, but also in the implications that its
"logic" would have for the Internet at large.
Despite Google's implementation of a comprehensive "video
fingerprinting" system to aid in the identification of copyrighted
materials that rights holders wish to remove from the YouTube
environment, the brief's arguments that services such as YouTube are
not deserving of DMCA protections are clearly disingenuous.
This is especially true when viewed in light of the abusive behavior
that has been revealed on the part of Viacom in their attempt to
"game" YouTube for their own purposes, even while Viacom was
simultaneously complaining about YouTube operations -- the textbook
definition of hypocrisy.
It's crucial to understand that such arguments are part of an
increasingly shrill campaign being promulgated by powerful interests
who desperately wish to "reimagine" the Internet as primarily an
entertainment industry conduit, where ISPs and Web sites -- even
search engines -- would be forced into the role of Content Cops,
potentially required to "approve" every posting by every user, at the
risk of massive financial liabilities.
The ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) is largely oriented
toward creating this sort of requirement at the international
level, as are many of the dangerous calls to eliminate all forms
of anonymous Internet usage ( http://bit.ly/btYVyO [Lauren's Blog] ).
The negative implications of such a regime -- which would turn the
entire concepts of free speech and the existing DMCA "safe harbor" on
their heads, extend vastly beyond the scope of YouTube.
As I've noted before, I have many friends in the music and film
industries here in L.A., and I certainly appreciate their intellectual
property concerns.
But while it's reasonable for intellectual property to be protected in
appropriately measured ways, it is unacceptable to turn the Internet
into a surveillance monster where every Web site is required to
proactively and continually monitor and censor the postings of every
user -- largely to meet the goals of a few massive entertainment
industry conglomerates.
Basic principles of fair use, free speech, privacy, and civil
liberties more broadly, require that we resist attempts to remake the
Internet into a permission-based liability leviathan, strangling users
in a suffocating maze of restrictions that benefit the few while
penalizing, intimidating, and muzzling the many.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad
- Network Neutrality Squad - http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP - Global Coalition
for Transparent Internet Performance - http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein