FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 19, 2014 CONTACT: ISP Accountability Action Committee

Call to Reform DMCA After YouTube Fails to Prevent Ruin of Fair Use and Creativity YouTube, along with other online video providers, are platforms that allow individuals to share and discus their works and to collaborate with others to create new works. YouTube has been a place of empowerment, of political support and discussion, and a place where the world can see what lies beyond the Earth. But as the past few years have shown, YouTubes current use of Content ID, its automatic online copyright detection program, is threatening YouTubes once cherished role in advancing society and creativity. Content ID has automatically blocked political speeches, video streams of NASA, game walkthroughs and reviews, and fair use videos, including one by Lawrence Lessig of EFF. Content ID is even preventing creative individuals from profiting from their hard work. However, YouTube is still protected by the safe harbor because the DMCA does not impose any restrictions on voluntary programs like Content ID. YouTube is not alone in using online copyright detection programs. If online service providers wish to use these programs to help copyright holders protect their works, they must implement proper safeguards to ensure that they are not impacting copyright tolerance, creativity, fair use, and fair compensation. As the YouTube Team has stressed over the years, they continuously work hard to encourage innovation, to keep creativity flourishing, and to keep YouTube a vibrant place where the rights of both content owners and users are protected and everyone can control their original content and make money from it. With Maria Pallante, the Register of Copyrights, and Congressman Goodlate calling for Congress to review and revise the aging Copyright Act, public interest and the role of safe harbor protection for websites like YouTube should be at the forefront. Maria A. Pallante, has even expressed that [i]t is both possible and necessary to have a copyright law that combines safeguards for free expression, guarantees of due process, mechanisms for access, and respect for intellectual property. Thus, amending the DMCA to add an additional requirement to receiving safe harbor protection will encourage online service providers like YouTube to amend their copyright detection programs and policies to add safeguards that will encourage creativity while reducing false positives and unjustly enriched claimants. Creators, video uploaders, copyright holders, and online communities will all benefit from the resulting enhanced tools to protect copyrighted content and fair use, increased safeguards and tolerance for creative expression, and fair compensation for both creators and copyright holders. Its time to stand up and demand that the Copyright Act protects fair use, encourages copyright tolerance, and rewards creativity online

PLEASE SUPPORT THE LETS PLAY FOR FAIR PAY INITIATIVE