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Last week, the big news in DMCA takedowns was the sweeping removal of Hitler parody videos . Earlier this year, it was Google suddenly wiping out six separate music blogs . Today, it's the removal of a tweet . While this might not seem like a big deal on the surface, it leads to some much bigger questions about free speech, what content should fall under a proper DMCA take-down and whether or not the DMCA is a legal method of applying censorship by any content owner. Sponsor Here's the story as told by TechDirt: The story involves a music blogger named JP, who runs the appropriately named JP's blog . Not surprisingly, JP also has a Twitter account , where he mostly seems to post links to his blog posts. One such post was about the leak of the new album by The National. That post includes a link to Amazon where people can purchase the new album... and also a link to a download of one song (in MP3 format) from the album. According to JP's blog post on the subject, Twitter sent him a message last Thursday "in response to a DMCA take-down notice". The email, he writes, read as follows: jp917, Apr 22 03:10 pm (PDT): Hello, The following material has been removed from your account in response to a DMCA take-down notice: Tweet: http://twitter.com/jp917/statuses/12499491144 - New Post: Leaked: The National - High Violet http://jpsblog.net/2010/04/20/leaked-the-national-high-violet/ JP denies posting any link to the leaked album in his tweeted blog post, saying that he will not bother filing a counterclaim to the take-down. He also links to an article in Plagiarism Today from a year ago that alleges that Twitter's handling of DMCA take-downs and counterclaims is problematic and that "there is clearly an organization issue here and that's leading to confusion." While last weeks' take-downs of parody videos may have been "overbroad take-downs of legal content" , as the Electronic Frontier Foundation asserted, this sort take-down may go an extra step, beyond constitutionally protected First Amendment speech. With the YouTube take-downs, at least there was copyrighted content present, although it may have been used according to the law in the end. In this case, according to JP, there was neither pirated content nor a link to any DMCA-violating content. While TechDirt argues that "specifically, nothing in the tweet itself is infringing -- which means that the DMCA take-down for the tweet is bogus, and a violation of the DMCA itself", we spoke with David Sohn, senior policy council with the Center for Democracy & Technology , who said that the question might not be so cut and dry. Section 5.12D of the DMCA relates to cases involving "information location tools" and "links". "One possibility here is that Twitter has gotten a take-down notice that might not stand up as a totally valid take-down notice," said Sohn. On Sohn's advice, we asked Wendy Seltzer, founder of ChillingEffects.org , what this all meant and she explained that the burden of proof lies with the person creating the content and not the platform. All the platform, in this case Twitter, needs to know is that the complaint me be valid and that, by removing the offending content, they cover themselves legally in the eyes of the DMCA. Whether or not section 5.12 D of the DMCA actually applies doesn't really matter. The introduction to her recent paper, "Free Speech Unmoored in Copyright's Safe Harbor: Chilling Effects of the DMCA on the First Amendment" (.pdf), speaks clearly to the problem we saw when first reading this story: Each week, more blog posts are redacted, more videos deleted, and more web pages removed from Internet search results based on private claims of copyright infringement. Under the "safe harbors" of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), Internet service providers are encouraged to respond to copyright complaints with content takedowns, assuring their immunity from liability while diminishing the rights of their subscribers and users. Paradoxically, the law's shield for service providers becomes a sword against the public who depend upon these providers as platforms for speech. The problem with the current format of the DMCA, especially in the case of something like a communication platform such as Twitter, is that a DMCA take-down notice becomes an extremely effective means of silencing information for a legally mandated period of 10 days. In essence, it provides those who wish to silence a voice a quick and legal means of enacting what is called a " prior restraint ", something clearly prohibited in First Amendment law. "When non-infringing speech is taken down, not only does its poster lose an opportunity to reach an audience, the public loses the benefit of hearing that lawful speech in the marketplace of ideas," writes Seltzer in the paper. Twitter offered this response: "Twitter regularly receives DMCA takedown notices. We strive to balance the interests of our users and copyright holders by reviewing each notice. After determining whether the notice is compliant with the law, we also consider other factors such as whether the notice is abusive to our users, or fails to take fair use into consideration. You can read more about our DMCA process here: http://help.twitter.com/entries/15795-copyright-and-dmca-policy "We are always working to improve our transparency. Users are notified immediately when content has been removed from their account. In this situation, we responded to a request to remove a Tweet containing a link to download content from an unreleased album. After reexamining our decision, we believe this was the correct first step. If the affected user believes we have made a mistake or that the notice is in error, the appropriate thing for the user to do is file a counter-claim. "We believe that the reasoning of the DMCA claim and its origin should be transparent to both the affected user and other interested parties. We are working on further steps to improve access to this information." So, our next logical question here is: Since this post includes the email from Twitter, which includes that original link to a blog post that supposedly linked to infringing content, can it too be removed according to the guidelines of the DMCA? Discuss
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Twitter, DMCA Take-downs & the Prior Restraint of First Amendment Speech
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Returning to a lesson we recently learned from the dancing hippie , we have to wonder if today's move by GoDaddy.com , the world's largest domain name provider, means there's more trouble in store for China and western Internet companies. According to an article in today's Washington Post, the company will follow Google's lead and cease registering websites in China. As we learned when studying the case of the dancing hippie, it's the first follower that "transforms a lone nut into a leader." Sponsor Google co-founder Sergey Brin called for the U.S. to stand up against Internet censorship in China this morning, criticizing Microsoft for its stance on the issue. While Brin's own stance has been called into question , it seems that the lone dancer has found a partner. The Post quotes Rep. Christopher Smith, the man behind "a bill that would make it a crime for U.S. companies to share personal user information with 'Internet-restricting' countries", as saying that "Google fired a shot heard 'round the world, and now a second American company has answered the call to defend the rights of the Chinese people." GoDaddy's move, however, is not the purely altruistic act of solidarity it might first appear to be. A new Chinese policy enacted last December upped the ante, requiring registrants of .cn domain names to submit photos and business identification, which would then be forwarded to the government. The law would require GoDaddy to retroactively gather information from domain registrants. While this certainly has extremely ominous implications in terms of human rights, we have to wonder how much the law implies in financial terms. GoDaddy is currently responsible for more than 40 million domain names, a number that is three times the nearest competitor. We don't know what percent of that is in China, but it could be quite the endeavor to go back and acquire extra registrant information before sending it to the government. On the other hand, we can hope that this is all being done for the good of humanity. And even if not, if it has that result in the end, does it matter what the reasons for the actions were? All skepticism aside, Google has found a friend, and the hardest part may be behind it. As Derek Sivers, the man behind the dancing hippie video , told us last time, "When you find a lone nut doing something great, have the guts to be the first person to stand up and join in." GoDaddy, it seems, has stood up, joined in and now we're wondering what big player might be next. Discuss
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GoDaddy Follows Google's Lead, Abandons China
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Google has just announced that it will stop censoring search results in China and will instead redirect mainland Chinese web visitors to an uncensored version of the site based in Hong Kong. China may block access to the Hong Kong site as its next move. In announcing its decision to stop censoring search results, Google didn't argue that censorship was intolerable, but said that the situation was getting worse: a wave of hacking attacks against companies including Google, evidence that the Gmail accounts of human rights activists had been compromised and the government's shutting off access to YouTube, Blogger, Twitter and Facebook. What comes next? Sponsor Committee to Protect Journalists : "We welcome this stand against censorship and hope that all Internet companies operating in China take a similar principled position... In the long run, however, we hope that [Google] ramps up pressure on the Chinese government to allow its citizens to access the news and information they need to be informed and engaged citizens." One future scenario that could unfold is that China could block access for its citizens to the Google Hong Kong site and Google could call on the US government for assistance. The US government may or may not be interested in intervening. Google might also determine that it did the best it could: that its hands are now clean, that Chinese citizens who wanted to could access the Hong Kong site by proxy and that there is probably limited interest in Google inside China anyway. (Though Google is believed to control 30% marketshare of search in China, the company has said its revenues there are "immaterial.") Finally, Google could make this move in anticipation of political pressure to do something about censorship around the world. Senate Democrats have said they will soon introduce proposed legislation that will "require Internet companies to take reasonable steps to protect human rights, or face civil and criminal liability." Different companies are liable to have different reactions to such political pressure. Facebook told a Senate committee it is still too small to decide how to deal with international questions of censorship yet! Human Rights Watch : "This is a crucial moment for freedom of expression in China, and the onus is now on other major technology companies to take a firm stand against censorship." Google may well have made this latest move in order to spare itself from an impending wave of political pressure later. Or maybe Google just did the morally right thing to do today. It's hard to consider that the most likely explanation though when it wasn't the censorship that was the last straw, it was the hacking attacks, the Gmail break-ins and the lack of access to a variety of sites. What do you think this means? What do you think will happen next? Stay tuned for what's sure to be an interesting, unfolding story. See Also: ReadWriteWeb's interview last week with Chinese digital activist Wei Wei . Discuss
Excerpt from:
Google's China Move: What Does it Mean?
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A ReadWriteWeb Guide Ever since its inception, the Internet has blurred the boundaries between author and audience. Whether you're a blogger, a pillar of the printed word, a podcast coinnaseur or a developer dealing with the latest CMS, navigating the next step in Internet publishing can be a feat. So, hit up these 10 events at SXSW Interactive 2010 to say goodbye to Gutenberg and hello to the interactive, multimedia, real-time, crowdsourced and community-funded future of online publishing. Sponsor This is part of a series of ReadWriteWeb guides to SXSW Interactive 2010. If this guide isn't your cup of tea, be sure to check back for more information soon! ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income Wanna ditch that desk job for the cubicle-less life of a professional blogger? What better way to kick off your SXSW Interactive 2010 than with a book reading from the editor and founder behind ProBlogger , Digital-Photography-School.com , and Twitip , three blogs that collectively reach over 3 million unique readers a month. Before you get into any panels predicting the death of this or that, let's start off with how you're going to start a blog and become rich, wealthy and wise. The Revenge Of Editorials If book readings aren't your bag, then how about a workshop on how to get to the bottom of all this content we create by the second? "As the Internet has accelerated the creation of all types of content, it's become more and more difficult to sift through that content and find something of quality. We've tried it with machines and even mass consensus but the results are either wrong or lowest common denominator. The irony in all this is that we really need other humans to help us. The vast breadth of content on the Web only highlights what we've always relied upon: the valued opinion of others." Critical Tits: Rights, Cameras and the Immediacy Age What happens when every member of an audience suddenly becomes an author? Eyes from every angle and a battle over the right to create versus the right to privacy. Come watch as CNET News ' Daniel Terdiman and Burning Man's Andie Grace surely take two separate sides on this issue. "The EFF recently argued that Burning Man's not as open or nurturing as people think, and uses the DMCA to control photographers' rights. This caused a firestorm of controversy, forcing Burning Man to say its interests are protecting its trademark and attendees from being exploited by unscrupulous photographers. This panel will explore the tensions and the legal/community issues this controversy raised." Funding Your Projects from the Crowd "Crowdfunding inverts much that is wrong with traditional funding by breaking down the barrier between creators and audiences, and turning fundraising into a interactive experience. This panel brings together several perspectives from the world of crowdfunding to explain different approaches to raising money from the audience for bloggers, artists, podcasters, developers, filmmakers, musicians, and more." Wikipedia Gets an Upgrade: Collaborative Video We can't really get away with talking about the wild world of online publishing without mentioning one of the founding fathers of all that is interactive and communal - Wikipedia . But can Wikipedia really take the next step and go to video? "Wikipedia is the most successful collaborative experiment in human history. Now it's getting a big upgrade: video. OGG Theora video paired with open source tech by Kaltura is evolving the wiki and prompting some big questions. Can wiki video work as well as wiki text? What does video mean to the Wikipedia community? How long until Grandma can hop in and improve the video entry on her favorite old crooner?" Transmedia 2010: Are We There Yet? While we're at it, not only have we left the printing press in the dust, but our standard categorization and assembly of media may be on the way out too. So, let's throw the baby out with the bathwater and get to talking transmedia . And you thought Wikipedia might be complicated. "The promise and possibilities of transmedia storytelling have been on the horizon for several years. The concept involves immersive storytelling that utilizes multiple media outlets concurrently to enhance and advance the narrative. Some see this as a better way of totally involving an ever more fragmented and distracted audience. So join us for a "late breaking" assessment of the state of the movement. Has transmedia finally arrived?" ReadWriteWeb's Party Continuing along with the idea of traditional and less-traditional media, we'd love it if you stopped by our party on Sunday night! We're cohosting with NPR, PBS and a few others at KLRU's Legendary Austin City Limits Studio. We'll have live bands, Tex-Mex nosh, margaritas - the quintessential Austin experience. Free shuttles will be available at the Hilton. How To Save Journalism With Drew Curtis of Fark , Jeff Webber of USAToday , Kelly McBride of The Poynter Institute and Matthew Palevsky of The Huffington Post , find out how the Internet is going to save, not kill, jouarnalism. "Much has been said about the death of journalism, but little has been offered in way of solutions. This panel will focus on solutions instead of problems, consensus viewpoints from both old and new media, and offer new insights into the operational structure of journalism and media for the 21st century." A Brave New Future for Book Publishing Bringing it back down to a realm we've almost forgotten, what about the life of the good old book? What's coming next? Will we break out of the binding? "Call SXSW 2009's infamous ''New Think for Old Publishers'' (aka ''Geeks School New York'') a missed opportunity. How did book publishing become the last media industry to embrace digital and how will this change? New publishing models, strategy and a brave future for books and we who love them." R.I.P. Content Management System What better way to end your SXSW 2010 with a timely prediction of the death of CMS as we know it? "The medium is the message. On the web, the medium is community. This shift has made legacy CMS products as outdated as scribes and printing presses. Open source technologies are disrupting this market and moving into mainstream enterprises. Join Drupal founder Dries Buytaert as he discusses how social publishing will bring content and community together." Those are our SXSW Interaction recommendations for publishers of all stripes. If you've got suggestions or feedback, let us know in the comments! See you in Austin, folks! Discuss
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SXSW 2010 for Publishers
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At the 8th annual U.S. Public Sector CIO summit in Redmond, Microsoft shared its progress in offering cloud software services to the attendees. The company has been making progress along multiple fronts, showing the power of focus and persistence. Microsoft has been investing in its products to meet the security requirements that are popular in the government setting. The company also applies its software-plus-service pattern as the way to reach knowledge workers in highly secure settings that require high availability. Sponsor The event kicked off with presentations and press announcements from numerous Microsoft government and cloud teams. One area that is central to Microsoft's message is that the company is committed to federal standards for security, including - deep breath - International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 27001, Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) 70 Type I and Type II, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), Title 21 CFR Part 11 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2, and Trusted Internet Connections (TIC) compliance. Folks in health care can take note that HIPAA is on the list, giving us a glimpse into the future that this service may eventually compliment Microsoft's other health care solutions in the market. In the context of health care, it's worth mentioning that in Microsoft's roadmap two-factor authentication will be addressed in the next six months. Microsoft posted an primer on YouTube on its software-plus-services government strategy. The key theme: choice. Software-Plus-Services Translated Scenario: Running Excel Locally Business Productivity Suite includes hosted Exchange, Sharepoint, and Office Collaboration tools. This solution doesn't include the applications themselves online; instead the pieces that join the files together are in the collaboration workflow. For the starter price of $10 per user, per month, it seems very attractive in comparison with other offerings in the market. We used the cost calculator and found that was as you would expect, the price per user goes down as the volume increases. Microsoft seems to be leveraging its strength in Exchange and Sharepoint to couple with local versions of Office Software to enter the market. There may be several reasons for this that shape this solution. Protecting the dynasty of Office revenue Making it easier to get started for existing license holders and users already familiar with their local version of Office Online solutions not ready, or don't meet the the usability requirements Microsoft's vision that some software runs best when local We wondered how this compares with the capability of editing a Google Spreadsheet with Google Apps. As a user, running the entire application on the network is a bit of a double-sided sword today. On one hand, browser based applications aren't as feature rich as current desktop applications and are still maturing. Where this innovation happens is also unclear; HTML5, JavaScript, SilverLight and Flash all have roles to play. On the other hand, when you have the document hosted online like in Google Docs, collaborating becomes a natural and expected part of the experience. The app can offer simple cues like always telling a person who else is editing the document at the same time. Today, we are signing up for the trial service to give it a test, and will report back on our findings as we setup and put it through the paces. Microsoft's Commitment to Government: Is it Winner-Take-All? Microsoft has benefited in the past by understanding how to leverage the network effect. For example, file formats and applications like Word became so dominant that it is assumed that all users use .doc, or use an application that talks to this file format. This, in effect, makes it very difficult to displace Word as an application. The push into secure cloud services seems like a race to ubiquity. The vendor that wins "first" may end up being the default way to collaborate in government departments. We can see how valuable it will be for the systems to overlay with existing technologies such as email, word processing, and data analysis. They will need to hit the same ubiquity so that all members of a team or project can share information freely and securely. Microsoft is heavily invested in government services. You can keep up on the happenings by follow one of the handful of Microsoft government Twitter accounts the company has. We also found this Gartner interview with Ray Ozzie valuable in framing the cloud from Microsoft's perspective. Is Microsoft positioned to be the default delivery of cloud services to the Feds? Discuss
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Microsoft to Government CIOs: Choice is Here
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