Respecting the linking economy and information aggregators - part 1 of 3 online rights battles that need fighting this decade

"Rainbow" shared by Jakrome under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0Intuitively, if you use the Internet even sparingly as a means of connecting you to the broader world, you'll recognize that much of the activity that takes place on the internet involves humans (and automated search engines and other services) filtering and aggregating basic facts and information.  This is so fundamental to our daily Internet use it largely goes unnoticed.  A link from search engine, a tweet, or a status update from a social media service are just a few examples.  There is huge value in helping citizens sift through the wonderful oversaturation of information the Internet offers.

There are, however, real threats to our ability to find content and navigate in our vast information ocean.  This very cornerstone of the Internet is threatened by fear, misunderstanding, and overreaching from some traditional content owners.

Submitted by Art Neill last modified Wed, 04/20/2011 - 10:37am

How service providers deny users the right to counternotify for content removed by DMCA takedown notices

DMCA pic

New Media Rights recently heard from a blogger who received notification that a takedown notice was sent to their service provider, a website that hosts individuals blogs, and that the user’s content was removed.  However, the blogging service didn't

1) Identify the individual who requested the information be taken down OR

2) Specifically identify the infringing material

What's the problem?  This essentially destroys a users right to counternotify, allowing overreaching large content companies to control and remove Internet speech at will. 

Learn about the problem here, and learn how to fight back if you have content removed by a DMCA takedown notice.

Submitted by Art Neill last modified Wed, 04/20/2011 - 10:41am

Veoh triumphs over Universal Music in lawsuit on social media liability, gives lesson in the DMCA safe harbor

"Jump on the Social Media Bandwagon" by Matt Hamm, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial 2.0. It is uncertain whether Veoh will be a major player in the future of online video. There is little doubt, however, that it has had a significant role in defining the boundaries of social media liability.

Veoh's victories against IoGroup and Universal Music have helped provide a model for social media and web 2.0 services in protecting themselves from liability.

Veoh's newest triumph is getting the district court to grant summary judgement that it is "entitled to the section 512(c) safe harbor."

Submitted by Art Neill last modified Wed, 04/20/2011 - 10:33am

Youtube puts ads on videos without permission

Youtube's filtering technology may be causing advertisements to appear on content without permission.  Besides the possible contract violations, the ads create catch 22's when uploading openly licensed (ie. Creative Commons) content to Youtube.   Youtube could have a significant effect on the future openly licensed video content.  This is appears to be a slap in the face to open content and step in the wrong direction.

Submitted by Art Neill last modified Wed, 04/20/2011 - 10:36am

Trademark holders rush to secure usernames on Facebook

Trademark holders are rushing to protect their marks on Facebook as a result of the new "username" feature.  Facebook recently granted all registered users the right to create personalized usernames in the form of URLs (www.facebook.com/username) because it expedites the search process for individuals and businesses.  With the creation of the username, you can now be linked directly to the profile you are looking for instead of wasting time scanning thousands of search results. While it seems the username is a helpful tool, many trademark holders are worried that cybersquatters will jump on this opportunity to wrongfully register their marks. How will the new Facebook policy towards markholders affect legitimate free speech.
Submitted by Anonymous last modified Fri, 07/17/2009 - 10:10am

The AP is going stop bloggers from pirating content (or quoting in fair use for legitimate reasons)

The AP says it is taking aim at "wholesale theft" with new technology that is aimed at targeting reposting of "entire articles." The new technology is supposed to simply flag questionable articles for lawyers and paralegals to then review.

The question is will the new technology be so limited, or will the AP use the technology to follow the same path it took filing DMCA takedown notices falsely characterizing the law regarding the Drudge retort's postings as follows:

"...the use is not fair use simply because the work copied happened to be a news article and that the use is of the headline and the first few sentences only ."

Submitted by Art Neill last modified Wed, 06/03/2009 - 3:46pm

California AB 632 - misguided legislation would overburden social media and undermine user privacy

The California Legislature is considering a bill from Assemblymember Davis regarding "Internet-based social networking: privacy" that is wrong for social media websites large and small, and does little to protect their users. The Assembly Committee on Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism, and Internet Media passed a slightly improved version of the bill on March 31, 2009 (5 to 3), which means it is on to the Judiciary Committee, where it hopefully will be stopped.

Submitted by Art Neill last modified Tue, 06/02/2009 - 5:00pm

Join the world's first virtual online collaborative orchestra

 The folks from Youtube are asking for musicians to join the world's first "collaborative online orchestra" over at the Google Blog . Video entries will then be voted on by users worldwide and the favorite performers will get to perform in a concert at Carnegie hall. Excuse me while I go grab my trumpet.

 

Submitted by Art Neill last modified Wed, 12/10/2008 - 11:54am

Google Voice and Video Chat, YES!

Google released its Voice and Video chat today, and our own unscientific tests here at New Media Rights and UCAN show that the audio and video quality easily rivals competing services such as Skype. The biggest difference is that this is Google making a move into the voice and video area and it has the potential to alter the playing field a fair amount.

Submitted by Art Neill last modified Tue, 03/10/2009 - 2:24am

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