Re: [dvd-discuss] DMCA replies

[John Young <jya(at)pipeline.com>]

As far as I recall no ISP anywhere has been sued under
the DMCA (this is subject to those more informed). There 
have been a slew of cease and desist notices to ISPs and 
their customers, and customers have complied after being 
warned by their ISPs to do so or have a site or file yanked.
We and our ISP have been DMCA-threated a few times this 
way. We have complied only when warned by our ISP of
two-day notice of shutdown.

Still, other files remain on our site that are candidates for
DMCA action, as well as WIPO action involving non-US
countries.

We note that our ISP, Verio, has never threatened takedown
on its own initiative and has told me it will not do so. Its policy
is totally hands off its customers' contents, due to liability for
the contents should it monitor. If threatened it will check to
see if a file is on a site but will not go beyond that, not even
read the file. It will only notify the customer of the threat, invite
a response of disagreement of the allegation, and issue a
notice of deadline for resolving the issue. We have challenged
some of the threats and won -- usually because the threatener
failed to check into the validity of its own allegations. 

Not all US ISPs are as fair-minded as Verio, for many will
immediately yank a site or file without notifying the customer.
This is in fact a very common practice, especially for ISPs
which are scared witless by theat of legal action, or who may
have no resources to fight for their customers' rights.

Also, we have been told by Verio customer reps that legal
policy depends on the backbone and attitude of the ISP's legal
rep. And this varies greatly in the industry. However, ISPs' legal
reps do stay in touch with each other in order to not be buffaloed
by attackers (some of whom are governmental) and wind
up losing customers by believing a song and dance as true.

According to Verio reps, ISP responses to the DMCA and 
other threats to customers publication rights are evolving, 
and what to do in response to corporate and governmental 
threats is not as unanimous as attackers claim when they 
make DMCA and WIPO threats against sites and files.

However, Verio says it will not resist a threat if the customer 
does not challenge the threat. 

Believe it or not, the best ISPs put their customers' interests 
before that of the DMCA and snoopers, or that is what they 
say in public. Far too many actions are taken out of the public
domain and lied about afterwards.

We welcome for publication any documentation on ISPs or 
customers being threatened under DMCA or WIPO, along with
documentation on what ISPs and customers worldwide are 
doing in response, especially in those cases where ISPs are
failing to challenge threats. Keeping this covert illegal law 
enforcement quiet is helping the copyright thieves.