MYSPACE TAKE DOWN STAY DOWN
by Tamera H. BennettMay 14, 2007
MySpace, the world's leading social networking Internet site, announced plans to use digital fingerprints to mark material MySpace removes from its website when copyright infringement claims are asserted.
MySpace states:
When a content owner informs MySpace that a user has improperly posted its content onto MySpace Videos, not only is the video promptly removed by MySpace, but MySpace also creates a digital fingerprint of the video content and adds it to its copyright filter, which is based on industry-leading Audible Magic technology. If any user tries to upload the same content that has been removed, the filter will recognize the digital fingerprint and block the content from being uploaded. This way, when copyright owners remove content from MySpace, they will have greater comfort that it will stay down and not be reposted. MySpace is the first to offer this feature to copyright owners.
This is a great move in the right direction to protect copyright holders; but it does nothing to address making the copyright holder whole for the initial posting, which was an infringement. What about cases of DMCA abusers? What will happen when a digital fingerprint names the wrong copyright holder?
Will YouTube and similar sites follow "suit" in order to avoid further lawsuits?
