[x-pubpol] UK Now Seizing Music Blogs (With American Domains) Over Copyright Claims

[Joly MacFie]

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120214/11083717758/uk-now-seizing-music-blogs-with-american-domains-over-copyright-claims.shtml

Last year, we wrote about how the UK was
following<http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110406/02525813799/uk-domain-seizures-nominet-admits-its-helped-police-seize-3000-sites.shtml>
in
the footsteps of the US's Homeland Security/ICE domain seizures. As we
noted, the process there is even *less* rigorous than in the US -- often
without a court being involved at all. Law enforcement just had to ask, and
Nominet would take down the domain. Still, we hadn't heard about any
specific domains that were seized -- and we hadn't heard of any non-Nominet
(which handle .co.uk domains) being subject to UK claims.

Until now.

Dajaz1 -- who, of course, had its own
issues<http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111208/08225217010/breaking-news-feds-falsely-censor-popular-blog-over-year-deny-all-due-process-hide-all-details.shtml>
with
bogus domain seizures -- has a story up about how the site
rnbxclusive.com appears
to have been seized via UK law
enforcement<http://dajaz1.com/2012/02/14/so-the-uk-government-gets-in-on-seizing-domains-music-websites-seized/>,
who put up a splash page even more ridiculous (though with fewer eagles)
than the ICE splash page:
 <http://imgur.com/qHHuZ> The site, like many music blogs, did post various
videos and commentary about new music. Perhaps some were infringing, but
you'd think that there would be a trial first. This takedown is apparently
happening via SOCA, the Serious Organized Crime Agency in the UK -- who,
amusingly, puts a copyright symbol on their takedown splash page. There are
all sorts of issues to be raised here.

   1. First and foremost, as mentioned, this is the first time we've heard
   of a foreign country seizing a .com -- which the US DOJ/DHS appear to claim
   as their own jurisdiction. While perhaps this was done in concert with US
   law enforcement, it seems pretty questionable that the US would allow what
   they insist are "domestic" domains to be seized by foreign countries. Think
   of the precedent that sets for... say... Iran. The operators of the site
   appear to have been in the UK, so that may be the reasoning behind this,
   but it still raises significant jurisdictional questions about just who can
   seize a .com.
   2. Second, the big red warning at the top is insane. Merely downloading
   music wouldn't be a criminal offense with a possibility of 10 years
   imprisonment. While I'm not as familiar with the differences between civil
   and criminal infringement when it comes to UK copyright law, I believe it's
   not *that* different than the US, where merely downloading is going to
   be civil, not criminal. A quick review of UK law suggests that it can only
   be a criminal issue if it's done at commercial
scale<http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/copy/c-manage/c-useenforce/c-infringe.htm>,
   and doesn't seem to apply at all topersonal
downloads<http://www.ipo.gov.uk/ipenforce/ipenforce-resources/ipenforce-offenceguide/ipenforce-offenceguide-cdpa.htm>.
   In fact, the UK explicitly
fought<http://www.computeractive.co.uk/ca/news/1907512/uk-opposes-criminal-sanctions-copyright-infringement>
the
   idea of expanding criminal sanctions to file sharing. So, SOCA is basically
   lying.
   3. Next, the splash page claims that the music was "stolen" from
   artists. While the copies may be infringing, it's doubtful that the music
   was literally stolen.
   4. The scare tactic of displaying your IP address and pretending that
   this suggests they're coming after any visitor to the site. This is, again,
   insane. The RIAA tried this years ago when it got the Grokster
site<http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060102/2324223.shtml> and
   it was just as silly then as it is now. Merely visiting a site is not
   breaking the law, and splashing your IP address next to a message
   suggesting visitors are about to be put in jail is insane hyperbole.
   5. Further, claiming that SOCA has the ability to "monitor" you is also
   an exaggeration. While it may be able to monitor certain transactions, it
   seems to be implying that it's watching your every move.
   6. Claiming that "young, emerging artists may have had their careers
   damaged" because of this site is pretty silly. Most young, emerging artists
   are actively leaking their works to such sites so *they can emerge*.
   They know that obscurity is a much bigger threat than piracy ever was or
   will be.
   7. Saying that downloading music means you have (absolutley) "damaged
   the future of the music industry" is again insane hyperbole. The music
   industry has continued to grow pretty consistently over the past decade.
   It's just one segment -- the direct sales of music -- that has stumbled,
   and that was the part that rarely pays artists very much anyway.

This whole thing is pretty crazy, and I'm surprised such blatant censorship
by UK law enforcement of a "US" domain hasn't received more attention yet.

-- 
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Joly MacFie  218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast
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 http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com
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