U.S. gov't trying to criminalize ISPs whose users post copyrighted content
The United States is attempting to insert into an anti-counterfeiting treaty stiff criminal penalties against any ISP/website whose users violate copyright law… even non-commercial ISPs! Jailing website operators based on user-submitted content would likely cripple websites — like Facebook, Youtube and DemocraticUnderground — that rely on user-submitted content because policing massive quantities of user-submitted content for copyright violations is basically impossible.
A quick search for “ACTA” on The New York Times (“All the news that’s fit to print”) and The Washington Post websites turned up absolutely nothing. So I point you to these articles for coverage of the Obama Administration’s attempt to cripple the Internet:
- PC World: “Trade Talks Hone in on Internet Abuse and ISP Liability”
- Law professor Michael Geist: “The ACTA Internet Chapter: Putting the Pieces Together”
- Law professor Michael Geist: “ACTA Negotiations, Day Two: What’s On Tap”
- Electronic Frontier Foundation: “Leaked ACTA Internet Provisions: Three Strikes and a Global DMCA”
- Cory Doctorow: “Secret copyright treaty leaks. It’s bad. Very bad.”
Posted by James on Wednesday, November 04, 2009