Digital Millenium Copyright Act

photo source: www.dmca.com


WE have a problem with our internet connection at home.

At 3am, when everyone is asleep, I am sometimes awake. This is especially true on Wednesdays, when I prepare for the 4-hour long class in the evening. I expect to read the assigned cases online without interruption.

But I have to reset the internet every so often. After complaining many times to our internet provider, one representative finally admitted that the problem is that squatters, or to be politically correct, informal settlers, are tapping into the internet lines that lead to our house.

It sucks, I know. But for my wife, it’s like she’s forced into withdrawal. Her current occupation requires her to use the internet when it is fastest. She is up at wee hours working so hard… watching her favorite tv series online. She even has a post-it beside the computer monitor to track the episodes for each series she watches. She says it’s bad enough that mega video is such a stickler to the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act), which increases the sanctions for copyright infringement on the internet. Mega video, as everyone probably knows, hosts videos uploaded by users. And according to my wife, if not for the time limit, mega video videos are the most convenient to watch. That is, if you can catch the video before it is taken out due to infringement. The wonderful people over at mega video, in order not to be sued for infringement, follow the DMCA. This means mega video removes infringing material once the copyright owner requests it. But on the other hand, it is reported that mega video pays the users who post videos that get a lot of traffic.

Good thing, says my wife, that other video hosting sites are not such sticklers to the DMCA, or that copyright owners are not being very vigilant, or that users who post infringing material are so vigilant.

It seems the informal settlers/internet thieves are doing a better job at curbing consumption of videos that infringe copyrights.

And so my wife, who has since resorted to watching her shows at ungodly hours is forced to go to sleep.

Christopher John P. Lao
Entry # 6