A Rocking Search Expert Calls for Congress to Target Search Engines
November 22, 2012
I never thought that I would see the day when the singer of Jack and Diane would be speaking out against Google and attacking internet copyright laws. According to the recent CNet piece, “John Mellencamp: Congress Must Target Search Engines”, the musician wrote an op-ed piece that appeared in the Huffington Post calling for a revision of the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
Mellencamp is not the only one making this argument. the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America feel the same way. Last year, however, their legislative effort the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), was designed to make allegedly piratical Web sites virtually disappear from the Internet.
Once major websites started disappearing, SOPA was met with protests from millions of internet users and SOPA lobbyers backed off.
Google however, does have a system in place to deal with copyright infringement:
“For its part, Google says it receives 1.2 million requests per month to remove links to pages, with Microsoft being the most frequent complainant, followed by the RIAA and movie studios.
It says it complies with 97 percent of the requests, which are submitted under a process created by the DMCA for the benefit of copyright holders — a turbocharged takedown process not available to people who believe their privacy is violated by a YouTube video, for instance, or think a blog post is libelous or defamatory.”
While this system may not be perfect, it will have to do for now. America loves their free music and movies and it appears that it may lead to the death of both industries.
Jasmine Ashton, November 22, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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