The issue DMCA claim abuse
Introduction
The issue DMCA claim abuse. This issue has been affecting twitter. Overzealous companies have been issuing DMCA notice on anything that is published in their platform. This has greatly affected their business since most people use the platform for marketing or even communicating (“Twitter Taking Down Tweets Over Bogus DMCA Claims”). A lot of people have felt suffocated by twitter, taking down every post they have posted. This shows that the DMCA is outdated and needs to be revised to be able to meet the changing technology (Trendacosta). The DMCA approved Congress to update existing copyright laws and to align the United States with international copyright protection standards adopted in the World Intellectual Property Organization treaties. (WIPO). The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), adopted in 1996, criminalizes the circumvention of digital rights management (DRM) systems, access control, and updates the sanctions in case of copyright infringement on the Internet (Trendacosta). The law updates the Copyright Act of 1976, which stipulates, among other things, the necessary provisions for “fair use” of the copyrighted material. The need to protect fair dealing regulations and the use of revocation instructions by copyright owners to limit fair trading is an important issue in legal circles.
While the primary objective of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is to protect copyright on the Internet and other digital channels, its implementation leaves much to be desired. Since the law was passed in 1996, there have been many technological developments online and other digital media. In response, new business models have adapted to the diverse landscapes of the digital environment. In its current form, the DMCA cannot keep up with this evolving digital landscape and is detrimental to content creators, intellectual property owners, and those who wish to practice fair trading practices through new media Communication (Basic).
Presentation of Data
Various data were collected across the internet on stories concerning twitter DMCA notice takedowns. This story shows how twitter has to keep up with the demands of the people who claim to have the copyright to various materials shared (Bertoni, and Sadinsky). This can be hard to twitter as they continue since they might not have anything in the coming future. As online platforms keep on finding better approaches to permit clients to share, post, and forward non-original content and clients become increasingly occupied with the practice, the platforms facilitating the content and displeased original content owners will undoubtedly conflict.
Before, Google, YouTube, and others have been focused on permitting clients to post copyright-secured material, and have been requested many times to remove the questioned material (Bertoni, and Sadinsky). An ongoing case documented in the Central District of California includes comparative claims against online powerhouse Twitter. In Pierson v. Twitter, Inc., the offended party asserts that clients tweeted her copyrighted picture and that Twitter neglected to remove the infringing material. Pierson, who claims she is a photographer gaining practical experience in the occasion and live music photography, battles her business depends on the authorizing and selling of her photos of renowned artists and groups. Pierson sells and commissions her photos on her website (“Twitter, The DMCA And Copyright In The Age Of Sharing | Lexology”). Pierson further claims to be the copyright holder and proprietor of a still photo of Herman Li, the guitarist for Dragonforce. Under the Copyright Act, as the copyright proprietor for the photo, Pierson would appreciate selective rights to imitate, show, appropriate, or get ready subsidiary works. However, as indicated by Pierson, Twitter clients repeated the Herman Li photo, conveyed it by connecting it to tweets, and showed the photo on Twitter, all without getting a permit from Pierson and all infringing upon her copyright.
A Security analyst accused Apple of abusing the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) to delete a viral tweet. The referenced tweet announced by Motherboard is an encryption key that one can use to jailbreak the iPhone. On Sunday, a Twitter security analyst, Siguza, tweeted about what is believed to be an encryption key that could be used to reverse engineer the secure Enclave, Apple’s protected chip on the iPhone, iPad, and Macs that stores sensitive information. (“Apple is accused of abusing the DMCA to destroy a viral tweet”). Two or three days after the tweet was sent, a law firm that worked on behalf of Apple sent Twitter a DMCA deletion notice requesting the deletion of the tweet. Twitter followed the tweet so far and removed it out only to reappear later on the site.
According to Siguza, the DMCA case was “dropped.” According to Motherboard, Apple was the organization that conducted the takedown notice (“Apple Accused of Abusing DMCA to Take Down Viral Tweet”). The organization said that when Twitter withdrew its request, it withdrew the tweet. At that point, Apple contacted Twitter to restore the tweet, and the organization continued.
At the same time, Reddit received several requests to remove DCMA for security research from the R / Escape Subreddit. Security analysts and programmers know an area where they can share ideas on how to escape the iPhone and other Apple devices. The motherboard did not have a chance to see who was behind the orders, but the Reddit group is sure it is Apple. These activities are part of a long history of pressure between Apple and security analysts (“Apple Accused of Abusing DMCA to Take Down Viral Tweet”). After a while without access to the iPhone, programmers learned how to escape from the iPhone with iOS 13 to the iPhone X (iPhone XR, XS, and 11 are not affected).
Analysis of Data
The data selected is very important in this case. The main issue, in this case, is DMCA abuse. The above data shows how companies have been frustrating twitter, claiming that they have copyrights of the shared material, and it should be pulled down. This, however, affects business and the right of information to people using twitter (Buffington et al.). DMCA policy should be reviewed in order to know when a copyrighted document can be shared or what can be done to make the owner of the material skill get credit despite sharing the information. From the case of Pierson, she could have contacted those who are sharing her material and have them state that they do not have the right to own such property and give credit to Pierson.
This could have still made her work more recognizable while being shared on twitter. The other case was for Apple Inc. Apple could have taken it as a way of people expressing their concerns on IT security (Buffington et al.). The DMCA policy should be revised to distinguish which case can cause DMCA takedown notice. Some cases, such as challenging the credibility of a certain product, should not be taken down since its informative. The person who created that video had copyrights, but Apple claimed that they used their products. These issues give a lot of frustrations to Twitter. A lot needs to be done on the copyright policy because as time goes by, they will be left with a platform that does not allow sharing of any sing material. This is because each person would be raising a DMCA notice.
Recommendation
I recommend Twitter to come up with clear guidelines on copyrights. They can tell the owners that incase their materials are used for any bad intentions; then it can be taken down(Buffington et al.). The company should also avoid taking down all materials before launching an investigation to get the story from both sides.
Summary
The current state of the DMCA is obsolete and ineffective in protecting fair use and public space. The joining of Internet platforms to the threat of costly litigation can have a terrifying effect on the free exchange of ideas, as opposed to the spirit of the free and open Internet. This article supports my reasoning, showing how these interests are compromised by the legal uncertainty of copyright and how the main copyright owners take advantage of that uncertainty to deal with the costly legal challenges against Internet platforms.
Work Cited
“Apple Accused Of Abusing DMCA To Take Down Viral Tweet.” Imore, 2020, https://www.imore.com/apple-accused-abusing-dmca-take-down-viral-tweet. Accessed 23 Apr 2020.
Basic, Cecilia. “An Introduction to DMCA and Fair Use for Educators.” (2017).
Bertoni, Eduardo, and Sophia Sadinsky. “The Use Of The DMCA To Stifle Free Expression”. Revista De Derecho, Comunicaciones Y Nuevas Tecnologías, vol 13, 2015, pp. 1-21. Universidad De Los Andes, Facultad De Derecho, doi:10.15425/redecom.13.2015.01.
Buffington, Kimberly et al. “Twitter, The DMCA And Copyright In The Age Of Sharing.” Internet & Social Media Law Blog, 2020, https://www.internetandtechnologylaw.com/twitter-the-dmca-and-copyright-in-the-age-of-sharing/.
Trendacosta, Katharine. “EFF’S Tweet About An Overzealous DMCA Takedown Is Now Subject To An Overzealous Takedown.” Electronic Frontier Foundation, 2020, https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/04/effs-tweet-about-overzealous-dmca-takedown-now-subject-overzealous-takedown.
“Twitter, The DMCA And Copyright In The Age Of Sharing | Lexology.” Lexology.Com, 2020, https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=9cf2c72a-6e78-4511-bd3a-26f7599795cb.
“Twitter Taking Down Tweets Over Bogus DMCA Claims.” Techdirt., 2020,
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100425/2119379162.shtml.