Strangling the Net: Stripping DMCA Protections from YouTube

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
> Date: May 11, 2010 3:51:11 PM EDT
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: 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



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