The articles were eventually reinstated but not without a long, stupid struggle to prove to Linode that its journalists had actually created the targeted content. The report from OCCRP says the complaints were filed by someone using a fake name and submitted to the newspaper’s hosting service, Linode. Just last month, three separate false copyright claims were made against Diario Rombe, an investigative news outlet that focusses on Equatorial Guinea. The claims – which falsely assert ownership of the stories – have been made by mystery individuals under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a law meant to protect copyright holders. Journalists have been forced to temporarily take down articles critical of powerful oil lobbyists due to the exploitation of US copyright law, according to a new report.Īt least five such articles have been subject to fake copyright claims, including one by the respected South African newspaper Mail & Guardian, according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). A recent report from the BBC details yet another (temporarily) successful attempt to use copyright as a tool of censorship. This tactic has always been popular but it’s seen a resurgence in recent weeks, thanks to leaked documents released to investigative journalists. We’ve covered a lot of this in recent years. One common tactic deployed by people operating in bad faith (which often includes so-called “reputation management” companies) is creating websites with news-y sounding names to host articles copied, pasted, and artificially backdated to create the illusion the original reporting by journalists is actually copyright infringement. Very few platforms push back against removal requests, allowing those who want content they don’t like buried to heap dirt on the victims at the bottom of their memory holes. Bad faith operators - who have little to fear from the law - have recognized the leverage they have and wield it abusively to take down any content they don’t like.Įven if it only works for a little while, it gets the job done. In practice, the law has forced providers to side with complainants and do very little in the way of due diligence when fielding DMCA takedown requests. The intent of the law was to limit copyright infringement on services hosting user-generated content by providing safe harbors for service providers who made good faith efforts to respond to DMCA complaints. Any legal or other information found on this page or at other sites to which we link, should be verified before it is relied upon.The DMCA lends itself to abuse. While Texas REALTORS® has used reasonable efforts in collecting and preparing materials included here, due to the rapidly changing nature of the real estate marketplace and the law, and our reliance on information provided by outside sources, Texas REALTORS® makes no representation, warranty, or guarantee of the accuracy or reliability of any information provided here. Applicability of the legal principles discussed in this material may differ substantially in individual situations. You should contact your attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. The material provided here is for informational purposes only and is not intended and should not be considered as legal advice for your particular matter. Texas REALTORS®, in its sole discretion, reserves the right to remove any content you have uploaded, posted, or submitted onto any of our blog posts if we believe that it violates these terms or conditions. You will not post any information intended to sell or advertise a business, product, or service. You will not post content or take any action on our blog posts that infringes someone else’s rights or otherwise violates the law. You will not use our blog posts or posted content to do anything unlawful, misleading, malicious, or discriminatory and You will not post any defamatory, discriminatory, libelous, threatening, vulgar, sexually explicit, abusive, profane, rude, or obscene content (including comments) By interacting with any of our blog posts, you agree to comply with the following terms and conditions: Texas REALTORS® provides content through various online platforms, including this blog.
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