[232] in Privacy_Forum
[ PRIVACY Forum ] Thoughts On New $1B Viacom Suit Against
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (privacy@vortex.com)
Wed Mar 14 13:04:08 2007
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Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 08:44:12 -0700
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Greetings. As reported by Reuters:
http://money.cnn.com/2007/03/13/technology/bc.viacom.youtube.reut
Viacom has filed a $1B copyright infringement lawsuit against
Google/YouTube.
While this may be viewed (accurately, I believe) in some circles as
largely a negotiating ploy, the deeper issues go far beyond that.
My "you can't effectively censor the Internet" postulate suggests
that it will always be possible to post virtually any materials,
even if this requires "underground" or otherwise obscured
communications channels.
However, this is not to say that serious legal and financial risks
don't exist related to the YouTube and similar models.
I see two biggies:
First, the obvious one -- irregardless of the ability of users to
post "offending" materials in other venues, the large services that
are most associated in the public mind with the availability of such
items (in this case Google/YouTube) run the greatest risk. This is
true both by virtue of their high profile -- they are the natural
targets -- but also due to the availability of "deep pockets" for
financial settlements or court-ordered payouts.
The second risk is actually even more onerous. I sense an increasing
discomfort in the courts regarding the concept of retroactive rather
than proactive controls over posted Internet information -- the
former is the key basis of DMCA enforcement, of course. This issue
doesn't apply only to entertainment-oriented materials, but also to
the rising chorus of stories from people who claim (sometimes with
validity) that their reputations and lives have been disrupted or
damaged by posted online campaigns or false information that they
are unable to control or successfully expunge. Over the years, I've
head many such stories myself that were sent to me personally, but
this issue is rising rapidly in the mainstream media.
The risk here is vast. Courts may choose to upend the current free
speech and related DMCA and defamation models, in favor of a much
more proactive approach requiring prescreening and total
responsibility for all publicly-hosted materials. The impact of
such moves would be impossible to underestimate, especially for the
larger players in the so-called "Web 2.0" environment. As noted
above, these are the very entities who are most likely to be the
targets in such situations. Personally, I don't think that I'd much
like the Internet that would result if these sorts of broad
government-mandated crackdowns occurred. But the problems are real
and do need to be addressed somehow. The laissez-faire approach is
reaching a breaking point beyond which the powers-that-be are
unlikely to allow it to proceed unaltered.
I believe that there are possible routes to a better situation that
could avoid the "doomsday" scenarios. Some of these I've outlined
in the past, others I have yet to publicly discuss, but an
underlying principle is that the major players need themselves to
take more responsibility for the effects of their creations beyond
the technical necessities. Better them than the courts and
governments I hope you'll agree.
The humorist Tom Lehrer sang: "'Once the rockets are up, who cares
where they come down? That's not my department,' says Werner von
Braun." -- referring to the German rocket pioneer who both enabled
missile attacks on London and was later the father of the U.S. space
program.
If officials are able to successfully and publicly paint large
Internet corporations as having that sort of attitude, the results
could be devastating to the Net. The only ones who can head off
this possibility are these firms themselves.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com or lauren@pfir.org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, IOIC
- International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net
Founder, CIFIP
- California Initiative For Internet Privacy - http://www.cifip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com
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