Re: Megaupload.com seized

[Nick B <nick () pelagiris org>]

I just made the brain melting mistake of trying to read the DMCA.  The text
which jumps out at me is:

   `(2) EXCEPTION- Paragraph (1) shall not apply with respect to material
      residing at the direction of a subscriber of the service provider on a
      system or network controlled or operated by or for the service provider
      that is removed, or to which access is disabled by the service provider,
      pursuant to a notice provided under subsection (c)(1)(C), unless the
      service provider--


   `(A) takes reasonable steps promptly to notify the subscriber that it
         has removed or disabled access to the material;


   `(B) upon receipt of a counter notification described in paragraph (3),
         promptly provides the person who provided the notification
under subsection
         (c)(1)(C) with a copy of the counter notification, and
informs that person
         that it will replace the removed material or cease disabling
access to it
         in 10 business days; and


   `(C) replaces the removed material and ceases disabling access to it not
         less than 10, nor more than 14, business days following receipt of the
         counter notice, unless its designated agent first receives
notice from the
         person who submitted the notification under subsection
(c)(1)(C) that such
         person has filed an action seeking a court order to restrain
the subscriber
         from engaging in infringing activity relating to the material on the
         service provider's system or network.



I'm about 90% sure that in a fair court, it would be concluded that
disabling the reported URL qualifies as disabling access to the material.
The court might then issue an injunction to, in the future, disable *all*
*possible* access to the material, but that's not the current text of the
law.  YMMV
  Nick B

On Sun, Jan 22, 2012 at 11:58 AM, Roland Perry <
lists () internetpolicyagency com> wrote:

> In article <596B74B410EE6B4CA8A30C3AF1A15**5EA09C8CDBA () RWC-MBX1 corp.**
> seven.com<596B74B410EE6B4CA8A30C3AF1A155EA09C8CDBA () RWC-MBX1 corp seven com>>,
> George Bonser <gbonser () seven com> writes
>
>  The problem is going to be the thousands of people who have now lost
> > their legitimate files, research data, personal recordings, etc. that
> > they were using Megaupload to share.
>
> But that's an operational risk of using any commercial entity as a
> filestore. Thousands of people lost[1] a lot of work when fotopic.netcollapsed:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/**Fotopic.net<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fotopic.net>
>
> [1] As it's getting on for a year since an apparent rescue attempt, and
> nothing has emerged, this seems a reasonable assumption.
> --
> Roland Perry