![\"GovernmentCensorship\"](\"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/GovernmentCensorship.jpg\")
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- To silence political speech<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/ol>\n
Organizations can use copyright to silence political speech that wouldn’t otherwise be vulnerable to censorship. For example, Alberta’s tourism bureau used a copyright takedown notice to\u00a0remove a movie trailer satirizing public relations about the Alberta tar sands<\/a>. Russia launched\u00a0\u201canti-piracy raids\u201d to persecute government critics<\/a>, while\u00a0Straight Pride UK<\/a>\u00a0silenced a British student.\u00a0NBC Universal removed a viral clip of U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren shutting down a CNBC co-anchor<\/a>, and\u00a0deleted an Obama campaign video<\/a>\u00a0because of a copyright complaint. Diebold even\u00a0tried<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0suppress criticism<\/a>\u00a0of vulnerabilities in its e-voting software. Clearly, copyright laws are being used as a new censorship tool that allows a workaround against freedom of expression and open political discourse.<\/p>\n
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- To delete opinions, feedback, reviews, criticism, or opinions the complainant doesn’t like<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/ol>\n
Copyright is also used to suppress speech a complainant disagrees with or dislikes – a way in which it was never meant to be used. CanWest sued over a\u00a0satirical parody of the Vancouver Sun<\/a>; St. Louis University\u00a0sued their faculty to bury a survey<\/a>;\u00a0Universal Music forced the takedown of a bad review<\/a>; and a\u00a0blogger bombarded her rival with copyright notices to shut her down<\/a>. Copyright law this easily manipulated for bogus and bad faith claims wastes valuable resources, and often harms the very creators it exists to protect.<\/p>\n
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- To erase mistakes or embarrassments<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/ol>\n
People and companies also use copyright law to censor publication of gaffes.\u00a0Encana Corp tried to quell a Globe and Mail conference call recording<\/a>, while\u00a0KTVU news station used copyright to remove videos of their newscaster making an embarrassing and allegedly racist mistake<\/a>. Copyright is meant to protect creators’ economic interests and spur innovation, not protect reputations and public image.<\/p>\n
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- To restrict and shrink the public domain<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/ol>\n
You know copyright has gone too far when people use it to claim control over content that is already legally accessible to everyone in the public domain. For instance,\u00a0Canada Post sued Geolytica<\/a>\u00a0for compiling a\u00a0crowd-sourced postal code database<\/a>, claiming copyright over postal codes. Other targets include:\u00a0Martin Luther King’s \u201cI Have a Dream\u201d speech<\/a>;\u00a0a political video featuring, \u201cThis Land Is Your Land\u201d<\/a>\u00a0which has been in the public domain since 1973. Not only do people abuse existing copyright for censorship, they also use non-existent copyright to further remove legal content from the public.<\/p>\n
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- For no purpose whatsoever (overreaching claims and careless automated takedowns)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/ol>\n
Copyright law can censor online content by facilitating removal through baseless claims, pointless or vindictive suits, takedown requests\u00a0targeting non-infringing content<\/a>, and automatic takedown systems with no humans involved to assess the merit of the claim. Casualties include: a\u00a0public domain NASA video of the Mars Curiosity Rover landing<\/a>, the\u00a0Hugo Awards<\/a>,\u00a0top hip hop blogs<\/a>, and even the 2012\u00a0Democratic National Convention<\/a>.<\/p>\n
But wait, there\u2019s more\u2026<\/p>\n
If all the above sounds nuts, hold on to your hats, as things could be about to get even worse. Ultra-secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks,\u00a0taking place in Ottawa right now<\/a>, aim to finalize extreme new copyright rules that will make your Internet even more censored, expensive, and policed. We know from leaked documents that entire families could be kicked offline merely for being accused of small-scale copyright infringement. Negotiators know they\u2019d never be able to get away with this if the public knew about it – that\u2019s why the talks are taking place in near-total secrecy.<\/p>\n
Your OpenMedia team is working hard to force TPP negotiators to listen to citizens\u2019 voices. We\u2019re meeting with them face to face next Wednesday, and we\u2019ll be passing on the views of nearly 20,000 people who want sensible, balanced copyright rules that work for all of us in the 21st century. Don\u2019t miss your chance to have a say – speak out athttps:\/\/OpenMedia.org\/FaceToFace<\/a>\u00a0and we\u2019ll make sure negotiators hear your views loud and clear.<\/p>\n
If you don’t think that copyright law should be used as a shortcut to unhindered censorship across the Internet, then take action here:<\/p>\n
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- For no purpose whatsoever (overreaching claims and careless automated takedowns)<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/ol>\n
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- To restrict and shrink the public domain<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/ol>\n
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- To erase mistakes or embarrassments<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/ol>\n
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- To delete opinions, feedback, reviews, criticism, or opinions the complainant doesn’t like<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/ol>\n
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![\"Action](\"https:\/\/openmedia.ca\/sites\/openmedia.ca\/files\/imce\/Action%20Image_stopfasttrack.png\")
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