For years, U.S. lawmakers have considered options to update the DMCA so that it can deal more effectively with current online copyright issues.
Senator Thom Tillis was one of the most recent to pick up the baton. A little over a year ago, he published a draft bill on the Digital Copyright Act of 2021 (DCA), a potential successor to the current DMCA.
Among other things, the Republican senator believes that online platforms can and should do more to address online piracy, a view shared by Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy. Last summer, the couple wrote a letter to the Copyright Office, asking to see the feasibility of technical protection measures and automated rejection tools.
The Copyright Office launched a consultation in 2021 that triggered massive opposition to upload filters. Meanwhile, Tillis and Leahy weren’t having fun. Senators have drafted a bill to amend the DMCA to make it easier for the government to prescribe specific takedown tools for online hosting platforms.
SMART Copyright Act of 2022
With a bipartisan bill, senators want to break the gap between online services and rights and move things forward. Last week, they introduced the 2022 SMART Copyright Act, which could lead to some significant changes to the DMCA.
The general idea is to give the Copyright Office the power to designate standard technical protection measures implemented by online hosting platforms. These STMs can be tailored to specific niches such as audio and video, offering much more flexibility than the current regime under the DMCA.
“In the fight to combat copyright piracy, there are currently no consensus-based standard technical measures and that needs to be addressed,” Senator Tillis said.
“I am proud to introduce this bipartisan legislation that will provide widely available anti-piracy measures and create a trustworthy and workable Internet for our creative communities.”
Senator Leahy shares this view, emphasizing that the changes will help protect artists and creators while allowing them to get paid.
“Technology exists to protect against this thief; we just need online platforms to use the technology. I work hard to ensure that our artists are paid, and we can enjoy legal access to their wonderful creations,” the senator said. Leahy.
Support and opposition
A government-imposed upload filter is something that can rally many rights behind it, and in fact groups like the Motion Picture Association and Creative Future have already responded positively.
But there are also more reserved answers. Public Knowledge, for example, believes the bill opens the door to massive online censorship.
“This bill is the latest example of legislation that threatens the living, open and innovative Internet in the name of intellectual property protection,” said PK policy adviser Nicholas Garcia.
“This bill will force digital platforms and websites to implement technical measures that monitor all content that users upload, automatically review everything we write, create and upload online for copyright protection,” he added.
Re: Create Executive Director Joshua Lamel also thinks the bill is a step in the wrong direction. Describing it as very dangerous, he warns that it will disrupt creativity rather than promote it.
“Technical mandates handed down by government attorneys without technical expertise or oversight will lead to content filtering – disrupting creativity, innovation and the flow of information,” Lamel says.
“Facts and Myths”
These comments should come as no surprise to Senators Tillis and Leahy. When they announced the bill, they also published a sheet of “Facts and Myths” aimed at addressing some of these criticisms.
Among other things, the senators emphasize that all government-imposed safeguards and rejection measures go through a consultation process where all actors and the public are allowed to have their say. Technical experts, such as a newly appointed Chief Technology Advisor, will also be on hand.
In short, the bill will provide the government with more tools to facilitate and encourage the implementation of anti-piracy mechanisms, while allowing online services to maintain their safe havens.
The full text of the bill provides more details on how the approval process of a proposed protection measure works. In addition to consulting actors, experts and the public, the designated safeguards must be weighed against factors such as cost and availability. They should not create huge burdens for online services.
Similarly, the rights of the public are taken into consideration. This includes the impact of a technical measure on privacy and data protection, as well as on freedom of opinion issues such as criticism and news.
The Copyright Office’s special expertise in the field of copyright and its exceptions – such as fair use – can help ensure that the right balance between copyright infringement is undermined by the authors’ rights and promote the online availability of materials “, the facts and myths sheet. reads.
Appeal and damages
Finally, it is worth noting that online services can appeal to officially designated safeguards in court. In addition, they may also choose not to implement them. However, this opens the door to lawsuits by copyright owners.
The statutory damages for services that do not implement the designated technical protection measures are limited to $ 150,000 for a single violation, but this number can shoot for repeat offenders.
With the bill, Senators Tillis and Leahy want to break the deadlock between copyright holders and online platforms. While many of the latter have already implemented their own takedown tools and systems, the 2022 Smart Copyright Act introduces a broader rollout where authorities can pull more pages.
Whether the bill will ever be passed is not clear now, but we can be sure that it will generate a lot of discussion in the coming months.
Add Comment