April 15, 2016 by Christopher
When online services have infringing movies, music, books, or other works placed there by their users, what should they be required to do? In 1998, Congress passed a statute (the Digital Millennium Copyright Act) that created a notice-and-takedown system: online service providers (OSPs) would disable access to infringing works when they knew about them through a proper notice from a copyright holder, or when the service provider has actual knowledge or is aware of facts or circumstances from which infringing activity is apparent, and in return would face a limitation on remedies in the event that a copyright infringement suit was filed. Of course, the internet looks very different now than it did in 1998. The early offerings of CompuServe and AOL pale in comparison to modern cloud computing services. Works can be placed back online within seconds of an OSP taking them down, and a single web site can receive thousands of notices for the same work in a ...
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