RIAA's ACTA wishlist includes gutted DMCA, mandatory filters
By Nate Anderson | Published: June 30, 2008 - 11:31AM CT
You can't see the text of the proposed
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) because it's being drafted in secret, but it's not so secret that the RIAA doesn't get to submit its own wishlist to the government. Knowledge Ecology International, an NGO that works on trade and public knowledge,
published the alleged list (
hat tip to Michael Geist) late last week. I hope you like mandatory ISP filtering.
Filters aren't just for faucets
William Patry, Google's top copyright lawyer, wrote recently about news from several sources that indicated such
ISP filtering language was making its way into the text of the treaty. The RIAA certainly hopes so, asking the government to require
"Internet service providers and other intermediaries to employ readily available measures to inhibit infringement in instances where both legitimate and illegitimate uses were facilitated by their services, including filtering out infringing materials, provided that such measures are not unduly burdensome and do not materially affect the cost or efficiency of delivering legitimate services."
Of course, "repeat infringers" should also have their Internet connections cut off, and ISP liability (both direct and secondary) would be increased, and any "deeplinking" to infringing content could incur liability. That last provision should go over really well with search engines.
The RIAA's points, taken in tandem, seem aimed at gutting the best part of the DMCA (yes, it wasn't all bad), the "safe harbor" rules that gave ISPs immunity from material passing through their networks. In the RIAA's world, ISPs would themselves become filters and enforcers, cutting off users and immediately removing access to material based simply on a phone call. In addition, P2P use would be generally banned on government computers.
Lock up the polycarbonate
It's not just Internet users and ISPs that would feel the heat, though; traditional CD stampers are still targets. The RIAA suggests that countries "with high rates of production of pirated optical discs" be required to institute a licensing system that would control both the manufacture and export of discs—even supplies of optical grade polycarbonate would be restricted.
