Blogging in peril

We read:

"It was a safe bet something was up when Obama refused to discuss — for ‘national security’ reasons, of course — the terms of the forthcoming Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (a secret copyright treaty). Now the Internet chapter has leaked, according to Cory Doctorow, and ‘It’s bad. Very bad.’

Among other things: It requires ISPs to ‘proactively police’ user-generated content for copyright violations. This effectively puts the legal onus on hosting services for enforcing digital copyright, resulting (according to Doctorow) in liability issues that will destroy the business models of services like Blogger and YouTube.

This ‘proactive policing’ means, in particular, requiring DMCA-style ‘takedown notices’ as standard practice in all signatory countries, and requiring automatic takedown and cutoff of Internet service on accusation — not conviction. As we’ve already seen in the U.S., takedowns are a virtually 100% effective form of censorship, since ISPs typically respond immediately and with a complete lack of due process.”

Source

Posted by John Ray (M.A.; Ph.D.).