Rich Fiscus
12 Sep 2011 16:09
If you want to know why so many people think the PROTECT IP censorship bill is so dangerous, you don't have to look any further than how the RIAA misuses current laws to attack non-infringing content.
DMCA takedowns submitted to Chilling Effects show the RIAA claiming links posted to Twitter pointed to infringing content when in reality they were direct links to a label owned website.
Chilling Effects is a clearinghouse of DMCA takedown requests, many of which are submitted by companies like Google and Twitter. It is run by the Electronic Frontier Foundation in cooperation with several prestigious law schools from across the US.
PROTECT IP's proposed blacklist starts with the assumption complaints from organizations like the RIAA are honest and fully informed when they claim a given piece of content is infringing. The reality is very different.
Music industry organizations have a history of problems distinguishing official content from unauthorized. They've even been known to make DMCA claims over content not owned by their members.
In recent months they have even convinced the federal government to take legal action against blogs who offered downloads provided by labels for promotional purposes.
Even the labels themselves have been known to claim their own artists are pirates.
Yet these are exactly the people Congress is listening to in putting together PROTECT IP, making the Internet less secure for everyone in the process.