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

[Joly MacFie]

I see they have now backed off the FUD.

http://www.v3.co.uk/v3-uk/news/2152998/soca-backtracks-jail-threat-file-sharers


j

On Tue, Feb 14, 2012 at 4:49 PM, Joly MacFie <joly at punkcast.com> wrote:

>
>
> 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.
>
> --
> ---------------------------------------------------------------
> Joly MacFie  218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast
> WWWhatsup NYC - http://wwwhatsup.com
>  http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com
>  VP (Admin) - ISOC-NY - http://isoc-ny.org
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> -
>



-- 
---------------------------------------------------------------
Joly MacFie  218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast
WWWhatsup NYC - http://wwwhatsup.com
 http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com
 VP (Admin) - ISOC-NY - http://isoc-ny.org
--------------------------------------------------------------
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