The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) isn’t happy with the U.S. copyright law. Speaking at the Technology Policy Institute’s Aspen Forum, RIAA complained that the DMCA “isn’t working for content people at all.”
“You cannot monitor all the infringements on the Internet. It’s simply not possible. We don’t have the ability to search all the places infringing content appears, such as cyberlockers like [file-hosting firm] RapidShare,” RIAA President Cary Sherman said.
This is true, and this exactly is one of the reasons why the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act was passed, creating a safe harbor for online service providers. One cannot reasonably expect Google to monitor all searches, Facebook to monitor all photos, or Rapidshare to monitor all uploads, but all of these online service providers must remove infringing material should they receive a notification claiming infringement from a copyright holder.
For some time now, the RIAA has been pushing ISPs to start policing their users. “We’re working on [discussions with broadband providers], and we’d like to extend that kind of relationship–not just to ISPs, but [also to] search engines, payment processors, advertisers,” Sherman says.
Of course, YouTube disagrees with the RIAA. “It’s our view that the DMCA is functioning exactly the way Congress intended it to (…) Congress was prescient. They struck the right balance.” said Lance Kavanaugh, product counsel for YouTube.
As it is, the DMCA protects online service providers – especially smaller ones – of having to constantly fear lawsuits, and spend money and resources to constantly be on the lookout for infringing material. The most important question, however, is whether private corporations such as ISPs (which can monitor all of your online communication) should really be responsible for figuring out who’s breaking the law?
Reviews: Facebook, Google, Internet, Rapidshare, YouTube
More About: copyright law, dmca, riaa, youtube
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