New Media RIghts has joined a broad, international coalition of civil society groups calling on elected officials to sign the new Declaration of Internet Freedom and uphold basic rights in the digital world.

We encourage you to read and sign the Declaration, and encourage your elected officials to sign it as well.

New Media Rights has filed comments with the Copyright Office supporting three exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s anti-circumvention provisions.  Similar to our 2009 comment to the Copyright Office, this comment supports the right to bypass anti-circumvention technologies to a) allow individuals to take control of the apps and services they use on their mobile devices, and b) allow creators and internet users to reuse video content for fair use purposes.  Our 2012 comment also supports recommendations that these exemptions should be extended beyond their 2009 counterparts in two very important ways – we argue that jailbreaking should also apply to tablets and that the bypassing of anti-circumvention technology should include non-DVD sources.

The exemptions provide an important safety valve for otherwise lawful behavior by consumers and creators.

On October 27, 2011, the Copyright Office released a Notice of Inquiry soliciting commentary on how copyright holders and defendants address small copyright claims within the current legal system, the drawbacks and benefits of the current system, and potential alternative methods for handling such claims. The Copyright Office was primarily concerned that the high cost of federal copyright litigation (as much as $350,000 for claims under $1 million)  may be dissuading copyright holders from filing lawsuits where damages are relatively low, because the potential award will not justify the expense of the litigation. Unlike many other varieties of small claims, state small claims courts are not available as a venue for resolving disputes over small copyright claims, because federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction over copyright claims.  The Copyright Office suggested a number of potential solutions including creating a federal small claims court and allowing state small claims courts to hear copyright disputes.

In our January 17, 2012 comment, New Media Rights identifies a key frustration afflicting small-scale defendants, the “settling culture” that has emerged within the current system whereby defendants are intimidated into paying settlements and accepting DMCA takedown requests rather than risk the high costs of federal litigation. Copyright holders exploit the high cost of federal litigation to extract unwarranted settlements from small-scale defendants and impose improper DMCA takedowns. We tell that story with real life examples.

Congress is once again considering passing new laws regulating piracy on the Internet. The House of Representatives is currently considering passing the Stop Online Piracy Act. But many oppose the Act—and you should too. If it becomes law, as one Congresswoman exclaimed, it “would mean the end of the internet as we know it.” Similarly, Internet companies like Google and Facebook also openly oppose it. The Act even prompted online protests by Tumblr, Reddit and Firefox. Why do so many oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act, and why should you be concerned? Read our coverage to find out.

The FCC's rules regulating Network Neutrality split the Internet. No more is it the Internet, singular; it’s the Internets, plural. Or more precisely, it’s the two Internets: The wired and the wireless. And the new rules leave the latter virtually unprotected. With the rules soon to come into affect this fall, and public interest and industry groups aligning for lawsuits, here's what the fight is all about.