RIAA: The DMCA Isn’t Working

The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) isn’t happy with the U.S. copyright law. Speaking at the Technology Policy Institute’s Aspen Forum, RIAA complained that the DMCA “isn’t working for content people at all.”“You cannot monitor all the infringements on the Internet. It’s simply not possible,” says RIAA President Cary Sherman. “We don’t have the ability to search all the places infringing content appears, such as cyberlockers like [file-hosting firm] RapidShare.”

This is true, and is one of the reasons why the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act was passed, creating a safe harbor for online service providers. One cannot reasonably expect Google to monitor all searches, Facebook to monitor all photos, or Rapidshare to monitor all uploads, but all of these online service providers must remove infringing material should they receive a notification claiming infringement from a copyright holder.

For some time now, the RIAA has been pushing ISPs to start policing their users. “We’re working on [discussions with broadband providers], and we’d like to extend that kind of relationship–not just to ISPs, but [also to] search engines, payment processors, advertisers,” Sherman says.

Of course, YouTube disagrees with the RIAA. “It’s our view that the DMCA is functioning exactly the way Congress intended it to (…) Congress was prescient. They struck the right balance,” says Lance Kavanaugh, product counsel for YouTube.

As it is, the DMCA protects online service providers — especially smaller ones — from living in fear of lawsuits and having to spend money and resources to patrol for infringing material. The most important question, however, is whether private corporations such as ISPs (which can monitor all of your online communication) should really be responsible for figuring out who’s breaking the law.

Stan Schroeder @'Mashable'