>> The DMCA And Monitoring Agents: Is Torrenting The Copyright Equivalent of ‘Driving While Black’?
1 Comment Published June 10th, 2008 in Business, Consumer, Copyright, Internet, NewsTags: "driving while black", BitTorrent, bots, cease-and-desist, Copyright, DMCA, DWB, enforcement, infringement, monitoring agents, takedown-letter, takedowns, torrenting, white paper.
A number of news sources and commentators are reporting this week on a University of Washington white paper criticizing the recent development of using automated processes (’bots’ or monitoring agents) against BitTorrent and other heavy bandwidth users to generate automated DMCA takedown demands. Many takedown demands are based solely on observed patterns of Internet use.
Are DMCA bots applying the ‘racial profiling’ equivalent of copyright law enforcement? I’m waiting to see if public rights advocates such as the EFF and ChillingEffects.org will begin to actively use the sanctions already present in Section 512(f) against wrongful and overreaching DMCA takedown demands as a strategic weapon against the shotgun effect of enforcement by “unmonitored” monitoring agents. The courts have so far declined to impose penalty damages against most rights owners making technically defective claims (the case against Diebold for using the DMCA to suppress criticism of defects in voting machine software is one of the notable exceptions where large damages were awarded). Carpet-bombing users with defective DMCA cease-and-desist demands is irresponsible and should expose the content industry to money damages for abusive DMCA claims.
One Response to “>> The DMCA And Monitoring Agents: Is Torrenting The Copyright Equivalent of ‘Driving While Black’?”
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“Carpet-bombing users with defective DMCA cease-and-desist demands is irresponsible and should expose the content industry to money damages for abusive DMCA claims.”
Take all the Should, Would, and Could in the world, and it won’t outweigh a single IS.
The fact is, nobody can afford to fight these ridiculous charges, because simply to challenge them costs more in attorney’s fees than the settlements usually asked for.
Given that the typical American doesn’t have THOUSANDS of dollars to fritter away on attorney’s fees, court costs, and other legalized blackmail, it’s no surprise that these abusive and reprehensible practices go unpunished.
Hiring an attorney is NOT the solution. Hiring an attorney rewards the bottom feeding legal profession for the mess they have created. Lawyers on both sides make money no matter who wins.
Unless there’s a mountain of cash rollin’ in, most attorneys will not even look at such a case. And this, of course, is exactly how the legal cartel wants things.