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New Media Rights answers questions from the public and takes media inquiries regarding the law and technology.  Please contact us if you have a question and we'll be glad to assist you. Our free legal and how-to resources, as well as our free public media studio and equipment, are supported by donations by individuals like you, so please consider donating today! Contact us for legal assistance at (619) 591-8870.

art neill's picture

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

Submitted by art neill on Sat, 04/17/2010 - 09:52

"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.

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art neill's picture

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

Submitted by art neill on Tue, 12/01/2009 - 18:44

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.

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art neill's picture

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

Submitted by art neill on Tue, 09/15/2009 - 10:31

"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."

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art neill's picture

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

Submitted by art neill on Tue, 06/02/2009 - 15:00

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 ."

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art neill's picture

Join the world's first virtual online collaborative orchestra

Submitted by art neill on Wed, 12/10/2008 - 12:44

 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.

 

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New Media Rights files comments in Copyright Office music licensing rulemaking regarding Section 115 Compulsory Licenses

Submitted by New Media Rights on Fri, 08/29/2008 - 09:31
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art neill's picture

Radiohead allows users to name their price, even if its $0, on its new album In Rainbows

Submitted by art neill on Mon, 10/15/2007 - 23:31

Radiohead began offering their new album, In Rainbows, for download at the price of your choosing October 10. They're not the first band to do this, but they certainly are one of the most well known.

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