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If only the DMCA was "nearly antique"...
The most humorous thing about this article is that it's referring to the DMCA as if it was some obscure law rarely exercised that Google was pulling out of a dusty filing cabinet. The DMCA, however, is a critically important law that radically changed the meaning of copyright with its restrictions on reverse engineering and bypassing encryption technology. The "Safe Harbor" provision is probably the only part of the law that DOESN'T weigh the balance heavily in favor of production and distribution companies.

And services like Youtube are *precisely* what this part of the law was written for. Back then it was GeoCities and FreeYellow and Tripod and Angelfire, and older systems like Usenet, but the same arguments and counter-arguments went on as to whether Tripod was "directly benefitting" from the people hosting copyrighted material on them.

And the difference between Youtube and Napster are immense. Napster was designed from the ground up to make it hard to enforce copyright protection. Everything but the directory was distributed, and the responsibility for hosting was distributed among too many different people for them to be able to effectively block access even if they wanted to. Youtube has no such design.

I have to wonder, then, is Declan article simply uninformed, or is he deliberately slanting things against Google?
Posted by: Resuna   Posted on: 03/14/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
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"Directly"  Jack-Booted EULA | 03/13/07
Directly means  No_Ax_to_Grind | 03/13/07
Does that include  Jack-Booted EULA | 03/13/07
no...  Stuka | 03/13/07
The courts disagree with you.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 03/13/07
Different case  voska | 03/14/07
But there's a difference.  Henaway | 03/14/07
True, but not the same  jc williams | 03/14/07
Sorry - directly MEANS directly  macbill | 03/14/07
Should be fun to watch  tic swayback | 03/13/07
agreed, absolutely!!  mdsmedia | 03/13/07
Only if I get to write the new one.  No_Ax_to_Grind | 03/13/07
Oh great  tic swayback | 03/14/07
Yeah, right....  Henrik Moller | 03/13/07
YouTube's fate rests on decade-old copyright law  Loverock Davidson | 03/13/07
yeah, good one Lovey  mdsmedia | 03/13/07
The Literal interpretation of the DMCA...  mdsmedia | 03/13/07
Once YouTube goes, the house of cards will hopefully follow  Scrat | 03/14/07
Cards like...  tic swayback | 03/14/07
I don't want YOUR internet!  macbill | 03/14/07
There will be no winners.  Raymond Danner | 03/14/07
Umm...it's a matter of time before - - -  Zolar | 03/14/07
Forgot - about the old music  Zolar | 03/14/07
Hit the nail on the head ...  Henaway | 03/14/07
Who should do the police work?  golfnutzgg@... | 03/14/07
By The Same Token  Mr_Wizard | 03/14/07
Tracking would satisfy  plutes | 03/14/07
Sooner or later.and it might be now...  epcraig | 03/14/07
There's no doubt about that  macbill | 03/14/07
I respectfully disagree.  Raymond Danner | 03/14/07
DMCA was never a good law  jdubow@... | 03/14/07
Unbalanced laws, infinite copyright...  Raymond Danner | 03/14/07
If only the DMCA was "nearly antique"...  Resuna | 03/14/07
How is this different?  steeleweed | 03/14/07
It's all short-sighted...  chas_2 | 03/14/07
Our Cultural Heritage is at Stake here  YellowbirdTwo | 03/14/07
I concur  sgo7 | 03/14/07
Money Opposes Merit  bcroner | 03/14/07
Here's a chance for Google to prove its non-evilness  plutes | 03/14/07
It really boggles the mind....  staygroovy | 03/15/07
YouTube charging?  billschwenke@... | 03/15/07
Viacom vs YouTube  PCH #1 | 03/15/07
The laws need fixing, and not just for companies  Boot_Agnostic | 03/24/07

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