Please Don't Normalize Copyright as a Tool for Censorship
upstart writes:
Please Don't Normalize Copyright As A Tool For Censorship:
Yes, yes, copyright is a tool for censorship. [...]
That said, it's one thing to recognize that copyright is a tool for censorship and another altogether to normalize and embrace that fact.
Over the last few months, we've had a few stories about cops blasting copyright-covered music in an effort to block people filming them from being able to upload the videos online. The steps to getting here are not hard to figure out. The legacy copyright industry spent a couple decades screaming about copyright infringement online, and demanding that internet services wave a magic wand and stop it. And, eventually, a variety of automated copyright filters sprung up to try to get Hollywood to just stop whining all the time.
When cops are doing it, it's clearly problematic, because as multiple courts have noted, you have a constitutional right to film police. So the use by police to try to get these videos taken down are a nefariously clever attempt to using copyright law to stifle the public's rights.
But that doesn't mean it's okay when private citizens do it. Even if in pursuit of a good cause. Just as it's not right when people abuse the DMCA to take down content being used for harassment and abuse, it's not right to try to use copyright to block people from being able to film you.
[...] Which seems more likely? Congress fixing broken copyright law? Or Congress and lots of others getting excited about new ways to exploit this "feature" of copyright law to their own benefit. It's the latter and no one seriously thinks the former is going to happen.
Copyright law is used for censorship all the time. It's good at that. That doesn't mean we should embrace it or support it. And it definitely does not mean we should be normalizing that kind of abuse.
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