EFF is filing public comments on a series of studies initiated by the U.S. Copyright Office, and we need your help. One of the studies focuses on the notice-and takedown procedures outlined in section 512 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). We'd like to hear from you about your experience with those procedures, and the policies and practices that platforms have implemented to comply with them.

Section 512 created safe harbors from copyright liability that have been essential to the modern Web—we couldn't have a YouTube, a Twitter, a Facebook, or whatever comes next without them—but the procedures those safe harbors depend on are far from perfect. We've seen the DMCA takedown process abused countless times. Many such abuses are highlighted in our Takedown Hall of Shame, for example, and we have spent nearly nine years litigating over Universal Music's takedown of the “dancing baby” video.

But our experience is only part of the story. The Copyright Office should also hear from Internet users who have been affected by the DMCA takedown process. If you personally have been affected by takedown notices, or the systems that platforms use to address copyright complaints and infringement,, we want hear from you. Email us at 512stories@eff.org with as much detail as possible about the nature of your upload, the takedown you received, and the feedback you got from the platform hosting it.

If your story illustrates something the Copyright Office needs to hear, we'll get in touch. (Our comments will become part of the public record, and we won't include any submissions in without the sender's permission.)