All posts tagged: Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Copyright

Time to Reboot? DMCA 2.0

Perhaps the most vexing question in copyright law today is whether Internet Service Providers (ISPs) should be liable for the infringing acts of their subscribers. While the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) provides a number of safe harbors that effectively immunize ISPs from most liability for subscribers’ infringing conduct, a larger questions looms: Should ISPs nevertheless be responsible for preventing infringement occurring on their sites? Since the enactment of the DMCA, copyright infringement — through BitTorrent peer-to-peer systems, video streaming, direct download cyberlockers, and other file sharing networks — has increased at a phenomenal rate. Worldwide, hundreds of millions of Internet users seek out infringing content. The current DMCA scheme places the onus on copyright holders to root out infringement and then seek the help of ISPs through the DMCA’s notice and takedown provision. This system proved adequate for a while, but some question whether in light of the massive infringement occurring online, whether ISPs should take on a greater role in curbing infringement. As might be expected, there is no consensus. Copyright holders …