To appreciate this article, you must first understand the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Passed in October 8, 1998 by a unanimous vote in the United States Senate and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on October 28, 1998, the DMCA has seemingly good intentions. The most-famed aspect of the law is the cease and desist takedown notice. This allows for the copyright holder to alert the service provider of any infringing content, whereby the infringing person must remove the content.
It can be supposed that politicians don’t completely understand the important issues addressed by the DMCA (DRM, copyright in general, etc.), though it’s more important to keep in mind the corporate implications that have resulted from the law—the onslaught of DRM technologies, unfair lawsuits and such. Three years later, the European Union launched a very similar law, and now New Zealand’s ISPs are facing pressure to adopt a similar measure.
The good news is that they’re fighting back the infectious nature of the takedown clause, bolstering the little bit of integrity left amongst ISPs the world over. They’re rightfully questioning why they should even spend the time dealing with the proposition. Arguing the severity of the law, they want to reason a more subtle solution: the infringer should be notified of the charge and be given a chance to respond—a “notice and notice†process.
There’s no saying that the service providers won’t cave and halt their lofty ambition, but kudos to companies with such courage. Groove on!
Del.icio.us
digg
reddit
