<
https://www.techdirt.com/2023/11/20/how-the-dmca-is-being-weaponized-against-e-commerce-sites/>
"The copyright system is flawed at many levels, as hundreds of posts on this
blog make clear. One particular class of problems concern takedowns. The best
known of the ‘notice and takedown’ systems, that of the US Digital Millennium
Copyright Act (DMCA), allows the copyright industry to send takedown notices
when they discover infringements on a site to the relevant Internet companies,
asking for removal of that material. The person who uploaded the relevant files
can send a counter-notice. Such a response may trigger a lawsuit from the
company claiming copyright. If it does not, the site owner may restore the
material that was taken down.
That might look like a fair and balanced system, but appearances are deceptive
here, for reasons
Walled Culture the book (free digital versions available)
explores in detail. Takedown notices are generally sent by lawyers or
specialists who carry out this operation all the time, often thousands of times
a day, using automated systems (Google has received billions of such automated
requests). These experts know the details of the law and are only required to
provide a statement that they have a ‘good faith belief’ that the use of the
copyright material is unauthorized.
By contrast, recipients of takedown notices are often small businesses, or
ordinary members of the public. They are unlikely to have any legal training
yet must respond to a formal legal notification if they wish to send a
counter-notice. The latter must include a statement ‘under penalty of perjury’
that the material was taken down by mistake. Many will quail at the thought
that they risk being convicted of perjury, and this stands in stark contrast to
the mere ‘good faith belief’ required from the sender of a takedown request.
Consequently, most people will simply accept that their material is removed,
even if it was legal, for instance under fair use.
Takedown notices can be abused for purposes that have nothing to do with
copyright. For example, they are a handy way to censor perfectly legitimate
online material. The practice has become so common that an entire industry
sector – reputation management – has evolved to take advantage of this trick.
Online reputation management companies often use takedown notices as a way of
intimidating sites in order to persuade them to remove material that is
inconvenient for their clients."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
