Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
This is the state of U.S. laws on digital file protection today. Unlike other copyright protection laws, digital laws allow the accuser to take unilateral steps against the accused before due process, and that's what needs to be fixed.
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This is probably going to sound like I disagree with you, but I don't. The DMCA is bad law. Period. It violates fails every test for clarity and objective standards and it's seriously misguided at its core.
In fairness, though, it's not entirely the
law that is the problem. The law doesn't compel an ISP to pull a user's account on the basis of an unsupported accusation. ISPs who are unwilling to risk testing the cases in civil court are just rolling over. In part, I believe, this is because they're caught in a no-man's land between common carrier and content producer. No one has absolved them of responsibility for what travels through their servers, but the culture is resistant to ISPs that pry too closely.
Also, and this is more a technicality, but when it comes to civil court
anyone can drag
anyone into court at any time with little or no evidence. The only risk to the one who brings suit is that bringing frivolous lawsuits can often end in successful counter-suits when they're tossed out.