Earlier we wrote about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s anti-circumvention provisions. The DMCA also contains provisions intended to facilitate the removal of copyrighted materials from the internet. Known as the notice and takedown procedures, they essentially provide ISPs with liability protection in exchange for the quick removal of copyrighted materials. The whole scheme rests on the accuracy and veracity of the initial notice, leaving the alleged infringer with little remedy but to sue for damages after the fact.
As with the anti-circumvention regime, these provisions are heavily skewed towards the (alleged) copyright holder. According to the New York Times Bits blog, a new study shows that some copyright holders, in particularly the recording industry group RIAA, may be exceeding the reach of those already favorable provisions by sending threatening takedown notices to participants in peer to peer networks which had not in fact done any downloads whatsoever. This reports follows other reports of DMCA abuse by copyright holders.
Most of the recipients of the notices studied are college students, for whom the remedy of bringing a lawsuit against a media giant is effectively no remedy at all.
{ 0 comments… add one now }