ATTENTION ==========>> Post your story now in a forum at forums.altnews.com.au
Copyright trolls are nothing new, and Righthaven is just the latest group of lawyers to try to turn copyright litigation into a business model. What these lawyers have in common is that they seek to take advantage of copyright's draconian damages in order to bully Internet users into forking over money. To anyone who has watched the file-sharing lawsuits of the last few years or the current BitTorrent cases brought by a DC law firm, the Righthaven saga is developing into a familiar, unfortunate story. It also has some especially troubling twists.
The basic pattern: Righthaven has brought over a hundred lawsuits in Nevada federal court claiming copyright infringement. They find cases by (a) scouring the Internet for parts of newspaper stories posted online by individuals, nonprofits, and others, (b) buying the copyright to that particular newspaper story, and then (c) proceeding to sue the poster for copyright infringement. Like the RIAA and USCG before them, Righthaven is relying on the fact that their victims may face huge legal bills through crippling statutory damages and the prospect of paying Righthaven's legal fees if they lose the case. Consequently, many victims will settle with Righthaven for a few thousand dollars regardless of their innocence, their right to fair use, or other potential legal defenses.
However, Righthaven is unlike other copyright trolls in some key ways:
Righthaven is claiming that its activities are intended to have a "deterrent effect" on the reposting of news stories online, but it's hard to resist viewing Righthaven's actions as purely business-related. In addition to the sharp legal tactics discussed above, Righthaven appears to only buy copyrights that it believes can be used for lawsuits and otherwise has no involvement in the practice of journalism.
Righthaven also appears to be soliciting other newspapers to sign on with it. But newspaper publishers who think that suing bloggers a story at a time will save journalism are sorely mistaken. Newspaper publishers have actually been having meaningful discussions about innovative business models to support real journalism. Sadly, Righthaven -- if it continues to attract clients -- threatens to derail those conversations with a sideshow proven to distract from progress.
But no matter where a newspaper may stand on the debate about journalism's future, we think it is abundantly clear that a "sue the audience" tactic is nowhere near worth considering. Newspapers should resist the temptation to put themselves into the same position as the music industry circa 2004, where futile lawsuits distracted them from the incorporating new technology and creating new ways to market product to fans.
EFF is watching Righthaven and other copyright trolls closely for overbroad tactics that hurt free speech and fair use, and abuse the legal system. We're looking for good cases to defend and will deliver more news and analysis as the issue develops.
Latinos for Internet Freedom, a new coalition of more than 40 organizations and groups, is advocating for an open and accessible Internet. And bloggers and nonprofits are now targets of a "lawsuit mill" that shakes down people for big sums of money for sharing articles and links.
The Singapore government has recently launched a new program that would provide training to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from the manufacturing industry in an effort to boost the country’s economic growth.
The program, which was developed by the Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech), will focus on providing managers from SME with trainings that would raise productivity and promote “excellent business operation”.
San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and a coalition of public interest groups and law professors have asked a California appeals court to protect craigslist from a lawsuit that could spur websites to be less helpful in responding to complaints about user behavior.
In Scott P. v. craigslist, Inc., the plaintiff complained about a series of craigslist ads he said were written by impersonators. While craigslist removed the ads within minutes of his phone calls, the plaintiff sued, contending that craigslist broke a promise to "take care of it" when the impersonators posted additional ads. In cases like these, federal law -- specifically Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act -- shields Internet forums like craigslist from liability. Section 230 was designed to encourage parties to pursue action against those who created the questionable content instead of the platform that hosted it. But the California Superior Court has ruled that this case can continue because of the plaintiff's allegations that craigslist said it would help.
Craigslist filed a writ petition with the Court of Appeal for the State of California Wednesday, arguing that the trial court should have dismissed the case because of Section 230's protections for forum hosts. In an amicus letter filed today in support of craigslist, EFF argues that the lower court reasoning could create a hole in Section 230, discouraging forum owners from helping users.
"Section 230 was a deliberate effort by Congress to encourage service providers to find innovative ways to self-regulate," said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl. "Yet craigslist is facing the prospect of extended litigation because it tried to do just that. Allowing this litigation to continue could result in websites being less helpful to users with complaints."
Additionally troublesome is the specter of further lawsuits, which could convince other Internet innovators not to host user content at all.
"Congress created Section 230 to allow for online interactivity without a flood of lawsuits. But this case could undermine the immunity that the law created," said Opsahl. "If litigation can survive merely because a plaintiff asserts that the site made a vague promise, sites may decide that allowing comments or user generated content is not worth the legal exposure. Then we'll lose the vibrant online environment that Section 230 helped create in the first place."
Joining EFF in the letter to court were the Center for Democracy and Technology, the Citizen Media Law Project, and law professors Eric Goldman, David S. Levine, David G. Post, and Jason Schultz. Separately, a group of Internet companies, including Yahoo!, Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, Google and Linkedin filed another amicus brief in support of craigslist.
For the full amicus letter:
http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/craigslist_v_sup/EFFletter9210.pdf
For more on this case:
http://www.eff.org/cases/craigslist-v-superior-court-california
Contact:
Kurt Opsahl
Senior Staff Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
kurt@eff.org
Exposure in overdrive ...The word is spreading
www.alecomm.com had over 2,000 visitors today.
Another 2.000 people are now aware of the henious crimes being carried against families and children across NSW by DOHS/DoCS
Singapore’s economy grew at a slightly slower pace in the first half of the year mainly because of the continued threat of the global financial crisis and the worsening economic condition in the United States and Europe, the government reported on Sunday.
In his televised speech on the eve of Singapore ’s 45th National Independence Day celebration, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong reported the country’s economy, as measured by its gross domestic product (GDP), has increased by 17.9 percent from January to June this year from 6.5 percent in the same period last year.
The Mideast Solution (1)
-Time has Runout for Fascist Israel in Mideast (Part 31)
-DR. ABDUL RUFF
[Establishment of Secured Palestine state & Demilitarized Israel; Jerusalem as Palestine Capital; or, Shifting Israel back to Europe]
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Independant John Hatten is HELL BENT on ending the corruption of the Labour Party in NSW.
Please email John Hatton and inform him of your STOLEN CHILDREN ..sold to greedy NGO's such as Catholiccare and Life Without Barriers for $5,000 per week per child.
A light at the end of the tunnel.
All people at one time or another are going to hit rock bottom this could be due to money crisis most common or due to the fact that life has become overwhelming for some that hinders their functionality as a man of society.
In relation to the fact of becoming lost is that people sometimes reach that point in life after time and time again things haven’t worked out in accordance to their vision of happiness.