Wikipedia, of course, being a user generated encyclopedia.
This case is of interest to the Youtube addict. Under the terms of the lawsuit, google can be liable for the contents found on its searches equally as Youtube could be for the content generated by its users.
is there a difference? These companies are claiming “safe Harbor ” under the Digital Millenium Copywrights act (DCMA) . This is a provision that says if youre just an intermediary service provider, and if you don’t thwart copywright protection yourself, and you are able toshow that you ban repeat offenders, you’re cool. All this would be an easy judgment to make (NOT!!!!) if the judge knew what the crap he was talking about. does he?
read on.
To qualify for safe harbor, the DMCA sets out several conditions. Companies must function as “service providers,” they must not interfere with “standard technical measures” used to thwart piracy (read: DRM), and they must terminate accounts of repeat infringers.
It’s the last bit that Io is challenging; it says that Veoh’s policies for booting infringers aren’t tough enough. An Io VP illustrated this by signing up bogus accounts using free e-mail addresses that were created with fake names. According to Io, it’s just too simple to create new accounts, even after being blocked. Instead, Io believes that UGC companies need to track real names or IP addresses.
Not even a federal judge would buy this idea. The judge recognized that “forcing” people to give real names online was an exercise in futility, and after a bit of Wikipedia browsing (I kid you not), the judge concluded that IP addresses could be shared among multiple users, so that idea was out, too.
(The judge also consulted Wikipedia to better understand what “Flash” might be, and he concluded that it is “the name of a file format used to transmit videos over the Internet.” Remember, kids, Wikipedia is only good enough for the federal judiciary to make precedent-setting legal decisions, not for your term papers.)
Hahahaha! Jurisprudence 1 Internet 0 (But I kid ) ..
The full article is here.
