Reform the DMCA (Pre-hearing petition)
The U.S. Copyright Office
For years, corporations have abused the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) to maliciously takedown and censor the creative works of thousands of online video makers and recording artists. Our free speech and fair use rights are under attack—but now we have a unique opportunity to fight back! Right now, the U.S. Copyright Office is considering reforms to the DMCA and they need your input.
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To:
The U.S. Copyright Office
From:
[Your Name]
The DMCA takedown process is often abused by companies to censor adversarial content that is protected under fair use. Furthermore, automated detection algorithms are often able to identify copyrighted works but unable to detect fair use (such as parody or political commentary), and thus issue takedown notices on material that is protected under the 1st Amendment or other fair use laws. This creates an automated takedown environment that errs on the side of copyright holders with no regard for fair use.
Please amend the DMCA to require that any copyright holder must incorporate a "fair use review" into their takedown process and provide a reason for which they believe a given work does not fall under any fair use laws as part of any DMCA takedown notice.
Please impose statutory damages for companies that abuse the DMCA takedown process or fail to adhere to any fair use review. In particular, automated takedowns must be discouraged if they inhibit free speech or fair use of copyrighted works.