This piece of news over at Ars Technica may have some startling implications.
The Digital Millennium Copyright Act's so-called "safe harbor" defense to infringement is under fire from a paparazzi photo agency. A new court ruling says the defense may not always be available to websites that host content submitted by third parties.
A Livejournal site hosted messages of celebrities, and a paparazzi agency that owns some of those photos took exception. Since the site moderated the posts that appeared, the appeals court ruled that just shouting "safe harbour" is insufficient - the court should investigate the extent to which the moderators curated the input.
As the MPAA wrote in an amicus brief:
If the record supports Mavrix’s allegations that LiveJournal solicited and actively curated posts for the purpose of adding, rather than removing, content that was owned by third parties in order to draw traffic to its site, LiveJournal would not be entitled to summary judgment on the basis of the safe harbor...
It's hard to argue with that: a site that actively solicits and then posts content owned by others seems to fall afoul of current copyright legislation in the USA.
But I can't help thinking of the impact this may have on SoylentNews.... if left to stand, this ruling could make running a site such as SN a very tricky line to walk.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday April 11 2017, @09:38PM (2 children)
Nah, if our moderators could actually disappear a comment it might be an issue. They can't. Any user at any time can see any comment. If they choose not to based on community rating of that comment, that's their choice and has nothing to do with the comment being visible to the wide world.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by tibman on Tuesday April 11 2017, @10:40PM (1 child)
Visibility does matter. If it didn't matter then SN wouldn't need(want?) a moderation system. The moderation systems entire existence is to promote good content and hide bad content. More nuanced than LJs all or nothing approach, for sure.
SN won't survive on lurkers alone. Write comments.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Tuesday April 11 2017, @10:54PM
Yup, and it's nuance I'm prepared to fully argue for hiding behind.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.