Deeplinks Blogs related to DMCA
Latest Test for DMCA Safe Harbors: Warner Sues SeeqPod
Posted by Fred von LohmannWarner Music Group has sued SeeqPod (complaint, 500k PDF), a "Web 2.0" music search engine (combined with embedable playlists, etc, etc) that has been gaining in popularity in recent months.
This is the latest in a string of lawsuits against Web 2.0 companies. Together, the suits represent an attack by the entertainment industry on the DMCA safe harbors that protect hosting services and search engines. Other similar cases have been filed against YouTube, MP3Tunes.com, Veoh, PornoTube, and Divx/Stage 6.
The SeeqPod case is different, however, because it is among the first that directly tests how copyright law applies to search engines. Despite the success of search engines like Yahoo and Google, there has been remarkably little case law developed on the copyright front. Part of the reason is because Congress stepped in with the DMCA safe harbors in 1998, creating some degree of certainty where the background legal concepts (e.g., contributory infringement) did not. In addition, by endorsing a notice-and-takedown regime, the DMCA safe harbors created a solution for many copyright owners that is cheaper than litigation.
But now, as search engines become more specialized and capable, certain copyright owners have become increasingly dissatisfied with the notice-and-takedown bargain struck in the DMCA. That's what these lawsuits are really about -- the defendants are complying with the letter of the law, but copyright owners are now trying to change the rules in court.
Of course, the SeeqPod case may settle (as a similar case brought by Warner against iMeem did). But the copyright issues will not be going away anytime soon (in particular, keep your eye on the remand in the Perfect 10 v. Google case, where the DMCA safe harbor issues may take center stage).
UPDATE: LA Times reporter Jon Healey has an interesting post about the case over at his Bit Player blog, suggesting that SeeqPod is unfairly trying to evade royalty obligations that its competitors must pay. We spar more over this in the comments over there.
LimeWire on 1 in 3 Desktops World-Wide
Posted by Fred von LohmannDigital Music News and BigChampagne report that 36.4% of all PCs world-wide have LimeWire installed, based on system scans of 1.6 million machines.
This is worth noting for at least two reasons. First, it reminds everyone that when it comes to digital music, the main event is still P2P file-sharing, as it has been ever since Napster's debut in 1999. The entire apparatus of "legitimate" online digital music stores (like iTunes) remains just a drop in the bucket. And the entertainment industries still haven't taken any meaningful steps toward a collective licensing solution to monetize P2P, as we've been urging since 2004.
Second, this is yet another empirical nail in the DRM coffin. The Darknet remains robust and generally accessible to mainstream computer users. So long as consumers continue to have simple, easy ways to share digital content, once DRM has been stripped from a file, the now-liberated content flows freely. In other words, all it takes is one leak (and DRM always leaks). And in a world with easy sharing, fans don't need to bother with DRM-cracking tools, which means the DMCA's anti-circumvention provisions really aren't doing any good (but continue to do plenty of harm).
Year-End 2007: Darknet Assumptions Still True
Posted by Fred von LohmannPrinceton's Professor Ed Felten (full disclosure: he's an EFF board member) in a recent post on his blog reminds us that one of the core "Darknet premises" -- that DRM systems on mass media content will inevitably be broken -- continues to prove itself true. The victim this year, AACS:
We’ve been following, off and on, the steady meltdown of AACS, the encryption scheme used in HD-DVD and Blu-ray, the next-generation DVD systems. By this point, Hollywood has released four generations of AACS-encoded discs, each encrypted with different secret keys; and the popular circumvention tools can still decrypt them all. The industry is stuck on a treadmill: they change keys every ninety days, and attackers promptly reverse-engineer the new keys and carry on decrypting discs.
One thing that has changed is the nature of the attackers. In the early days, the most effective reverse engineers were individuals, communicating by email and pseudonymous form posts. Their efforts resulted in rough but workable circumvention tools. In recent months, though, circumvention has gone commercial, with Slysoft, an Antigua-based maker of DVD-reader software, taking the lead and offering more polished tools for reading and ripping AACS discs.
To many who follow DRM issues closely, this is hardly news; the regular breaking of DRM systems, followed by the steady leak of formerly-protected content into file-sharing channels, is now so common that it barely rates a mention in the tech press.
But copyright policy-makers still haven't gotten the message (hey, policy-maker: DRM does not slow piracy!!). Whether they get the message or not, this steadily mounting pile of empirical evidence continues to show that the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA (i.e., "thou shalt not circumvent DRM") are a failure if the goal was to impede digital infringement. At the same time, of course, the DMCA continues to be a valuable tool for rightsholders who want to use DRM to impede competition, innovation, and free speech.
