Plagiarism Today - Latest Comments in The Need for DMCA Transparency

Re: The Need for DMCA Transparency

Arborlaw — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 05:41:58 -0000

I agree with Jonathan, any system of this sort is going to fail from lack of participation. There are very real legal consequences to making a DMCA takedown letter public. A DMCA letter is a legal threat. It makes statements about someone else's actions. Statements made to third parties which come across as factual, and which are incorrect, can be either slander or libel and subject the maker of the statement to possible court action for one of these. If the result has adverse consequences in an ongoing commercial relationship (for example, a web host wrongly terminates a hosting relationship due to a complaint) then the maker of the statement could be liable for tortious interference with contract. If there were some way to require disclosure of all this, a lot of people would go out of the hosting business, immediately.

DMCA takedowns just as frequently backfire as they do succeed. I have an article on the adverse consequences of making a bad takedown demand here.

Carol Shepherd
Arborlaw PLC

Re: The Need for DMCA Transparency

Jonathan Bailey — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 03:21:03 -0000

Reyna: Please let me know if there is anything that I can do to help you! I'll gladly assist any way that I can.

Re: The Need for DMCA Transparency

reyna elena — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 22:07:24 -0000

hey, i ran across your site over at kotsengkuba.com. i sure will be coming back in here. i have had several occasions where people would post my entries on their blog without any acknowledgement and one time, my advertisers blamed ME!! that I stole the article! i was very very angry!

Re: The Need for DMCA Transparency

Jonathan Bailey — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 09:28:57 -0000

Kit: Your layout was great, since you were the source I wanted to use it on the article itself but the logo was kind of hard to work in, so you made the front page instead.

When you say that this is within your job description, what do you do? I'm just curious. I'm always reaching out to people that deal with DMCA matters.

Also, definitely check out CE. It isn't what it used to be and it never was what it was supposed to be, it still is very neat and, at times, rather funny.

Finally, on my modifications, don't worry about them too much. They were mostly for other hosts. Linden has some tougher questions to answer than your average Web host. I think you were right to demand more of them.

Voyagerfan: It was funny, but I didn't make that mistake this time :P

I only mentioned the name twice and both in the singular.

TL: As it sits currently, ISPs are not held liable so long as they remove works reported to be infringing. Overall, it is a fair trade considering that ISPs do profit from the accounts they host. That being said, there is always room for tweaking and improvements.

Aurelius: Very welcome!

Re: The Need for DMCA Transparency

Aurelius Tjin — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:22:44 -0000

This is very interesting! I have enjoyed reading this very insightful post. Very engaging and informative. Thanks for sharing. :)

Re: The Need for DMCA Transparency

Tanning lotion — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 00:13:58 -0000

The DMCA is a great tool but it needs some refining. I agree that copyright holders need protection, but I still believe that the ISP and search engines should be held harmless period of their content.

Re: The Need for DMCA Transparency

Voyagerfan5761 — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:31:03 -0000

I'm still laughing at "Linen Labs". ;-) Just thought I'd point it out.

Re: The Need for DMCA Transparency

Kit Meredith — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:08:25 -0000

Jonathan, I am so happy that you were able to take what I wrote and expand upon it in such a comprehensive way. I do question, however, your judgment in sullying the front page of your blog (a masterful layout, btw) with my ugly mug. :)

In all seriousness, this is a great post that anyone who is interested in DMCA enforcement would do well to read. You've obviously given this a lot of thought, and know a ton about the history of the issue - way more than I do, and it's arguably within my job description! I am especially interested in looking further at Chilling Effects, defunct though it may be.

Thanks again for broadening this discussion beyond Second Life, and for your suggested modifications to my proposal, which I am considering. Ciao!