AH Vault: DMCA And Creative Commons

I know that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, but it really does bear thinking about as it is the overarching rule book for how copyrighted content is distributed and used online. The most controversial and therefore relevant section is in Title II of the bill. Known as The Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act, that section outlines how ISPs and other online service providers can avoid litigation as long as they respond to requests by copyright holders to restrict the flow of illegal content across their services. This portion of the DMCA is what allows for all of the disruption of information sharing, collaboration, and interaction that takes place courtesy of court orders on the internet today.

Below are just a couple of the videos from the Artists House main site that relate to the DMCA, as well as a video from Creative Commons that describes how they provide a method to circumvent the hassle:

A basic description of the DMCA:

Opinions on the DMCA and Creative Commons:

A description of Creative Commons and how it works:

My favorite phrase from that last clip is “skip the intermediaries” - the point of the creative commons video is that such a system encourages conversation and collaboration across the internet without letting those overly concerned about the monetary implications get in the way. Reminds me of an article I read recently.