Monday, June 9, 2008

Copyright violation or censorship?

Aussie News Views blogger has been threatened with litigation for publishing copyright articles.
Looking at the Tim Blair linked post, he has reproduced all of the news.com.au article which is a breech of copyright. In fact he's reproduced all of Tim's articles. He may be able to evade any copyright infringement action if he only quotes a little of the article and links to the whole article. That is my understanding of the copyright law in this case.

However, it's interesting that the only blog posts which seem to be complained about are the ones which talk about anything to do with Muslims or Islam.

I received this email from Typepad demanding I remove the following listed posts from Aussie News & Views, the content contained in these posts betrays the true motive behind the "request" by some anonymous whiner for their removal, I have neither the time or the means to defend myself from whoever or whatever group (Godless Cult?) is behind this cowardly Curr's attack upon free speech.
Here, I've reproduced some of the email he received listing the blogs and photos which should be removed:

We have recently received a valid request under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (see Wikipedia: DMCA for more information and resources) from the copyright holder of certain material that you have posted to your weblog at http://example.typepad.com/. The copyright holder has said that you do not have permission to use this material. Please delete the following content as soon as possible:

* Depressed terror suspect denied bail article in the post: muslim terror
* Your son died for nothing article in the post: luke-worsley-pa.html
* How a Muslim girl became a born again virgin article in the post: aisha-salim-bor.html
* Mamdouh Habib son's police lie & Prisoner's son charged with kidnap articles in the post: terrorist-group.html
* Rabiah Hutchinson hits back at Bali critics article in the post: rabiah-hutchi-1.html
-- and the images: rabiah_hutchinson.jpg & rabiah_hutchinson.jpg
* Bali survivor slams Islam matriarch article included in the post: rabiah-hutchins.html
* Rudd vows to charge Iran leader article included in the post: judith-apter--1.html
* Bali bombers party with top cop & McClelland not guaranteed job articles included in the post: kevin-rudds-l-1.html
* Islamic cleric preaching extremism hate article included in the post: kevin-rudds-lab.html
* Young Somalis lured home by al-Qa'ida article included in the post: islamic-socio-2.html
* My son has joined al-Qa'ida included in the post: khadra-nimales-.html
* Islamist leader in call for revolution article included in the post: islams-maddest-.html
* Iran's President goes all Borat article included in the post: islamic-sociopa.html
* Muslim prayer room call for universities article included in the post: sydney-muslims-.html
* Prepare for long war: UK general article included in the post: war-prepare-for.html * Bethlehem mayor angers Jews article included in the post: bethlehem-mayor.html
* Suicide bombs in Iraq kill at least 175 article included in the post: michael-moores-.html
* Dr's smashing time in Sydney article included in the post: terror-austr-11.html
* Terry Hicks attacks doctor's detention article included in the post: terror-austr-10.html
* Hizb ut-Tahrir wants a Caliphate article included in the post: terror-austra-9.html
* Radical group faces ban article included in the post: australian-ag-t.html
* School's land sold for private college included in the post: bass-hill-highs.html
* Leaving Iraq won't make us safer included in the post: terror-austra-6.html
* Radical group faces ban & Tough talk from outlaw group articles included in the post: australian-ag-t.html
* Magnet for madmen article included in the post: terror-austra-5.html
* PM: Anti-terror fridge magnets justified article included in the post: terror-austra-2.html
* Mad doctor cell Sydney link article included in the post: terror-austra-4.html
* Martyr Mouse taking Mickey article included in the post: tim-blair-marty.html
* 3000 Sydney Muslims radical article included in the post: terror-austra-1.html
* Doctor in terror arrest named article included in the post: terror-australi.html
* Terror suspect boxed with Mundine article included in the post: terror-austra-5.html
* My uncle's no terrorist article included in the post: terror-austra-4.html
* Aussies seized in terror raids article included in the post: terror-austra-3.html
* Australian killed in terror raids article included in the post: terror-austra-2.html
* Bin Laden backer blasted article included in the post: terror-australi.html
* Aussie Muslims unite against Israel article included in the post: terror-austra-1.html
* Alan Gold: Amnesty is not a moral guardian article included in the post: amnestys_muslim.html
* US warns Iran as armada enters Gulf article included in the post: islamic_sociopa.html
* Test unAustralian say Muslims article included in the post: terror_australi_1.html
* Cabs refusing blind passengers article included in the post: terror_australi_2.html
-- and the images: cabs_refusing_blind_passeng.jpg & cabs_refusing_blind_passeng.jpg
* Radio reporter abused by young Muslims article included in the post: terror_australi.html
* Sheik's love for Australia article included in the post: sheiks_love_for.html
* Jihad hymn in youth group's soccer video article included in the post: sydney_muslim_s.html
* Al-Qaeda plans Hiroshima article included in the post: alqaeda_plans_f.html
* Radical Muslims pay jail inmates article included in the post: terror_australi_13.html
* Bible rapist found guilty & Guilty Bible rapist's sick ploy articles included in the post: muslim_bible_ra.html
* Bible rape case visa claim article included in the post: bible_rape_case.html
* Only God can make me go article included in the post: terror_australi_12.html
* Woman converts after Bible rape article included in the post: terror_australi_10.html
* Let your Jesus help you article included in the post: terror_australi_7.html
* Free speech for mad mullahs article included in the post: free_speech_for.html
* Bible rape victim faces accused article included in the post: terror_australi_8.html
* Raped for reading the Bible article included in the post: terror_australi_7.html
* Islamic hate film gets PG rating article included in the post: terror_australi_5.html
* Image located in the post indonesian-bali.html:-- terror_attack_imminent.jpg

Please remove this material within 2 business days and write back to inform us of your compliance. We will follow up on June 10, 2008, if we do not hear further from
you to remove the content in dispute.

If you have a good faith belief that you are being asked to remove or disable this material as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material, you may ask that the material be restored by sending Six Apart a counter notification. Section 512(g) of the Copyright Act requires that your counter notification must be in writing and must include substantially all of the following:..


I'll see if I hear any more about this and let you know.
(Hat tip minicapt.)

Update: Wand sends this link about proposed new copyright laws which it seems will make everything* illegal.

Update II: Except, of course, pictures of children in the nude with provocative lighting in sensual poses. But we knew that.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought that's how bloggers operated. You keep a keen eye out for material from all sources. Both Bolta and Blair cite their sources regularly. As you do. Keep going Bloodnut. Don't let the bastards get you down. Mehaul

kae said...

Lifting the whole of someone's article verbatum is a breech of copyright. You can quote bits of it, but not the whole thing.
However, it's strange that all the items fall into certain categories like, oh, terrorism, islam, muslim... y'know?

kae said...

bugger
all the items complained aboutfall into...

grr!

Anonymous said...

Pakistan is demanding other nations enact laws against anti-islam line-drawings (aka cartoons), statements, or writings. Sharia-push needs some infidel-stomp.

Anonymous said...

Aussie News Views blogger has been threatened with litigation for publishing copyright articles.

It all looks like a crock to me. Just look at the language in the demand, e.g. A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief and so on. (Good grief!) Anyway I think that the ‘copyright act’ referred to (What ... a Wikpedia reference! - Christ, give me a break) is a US attempt to limit copying of digital media such as dvds and cds. Right ! There is no overarching authority to enforce copyright let alone any overarching copyright laws that cross national boundaries.

The only time I have seen a reputable site remove any material was at Eureferendum some years ago where some UK newspapers apparently got upset at having some of their pictures copied and threatened legal action in the UK against a person who was in the UK and presumably against a web site hosted in the UK. That’s somewhat different from the so called threat received by Aussie News. Anyway Eureferendum complied and then used links to images and so on, also ensuring that only parts of news stories were quoted (not the complete article). That process does seem to be generally accepted as not infringing copyright but I’m not sure if it has any legal basis. One option could have been to just move the whole blog to a country outside any local jurisdiction. And the only reason that some newspapers took an interest in Eureferendum was because of the stories they were writing and the popularity of the site.

Interestingly enough there is this story in the SMH this morning about copyright which provides an indication of what is happening.

If Aussie News actually does have a problem with typepad’s Terms of Service they should just move their blog.

Anonymous said...

And in further news, Internet providers agree to block child porn sites .

Of course all in the name of protecting the children – yah di da di da. All so noble (of course that’s b/s), but if you start with this, then what’s next? And who decides? The Canadian Human Rights Commission?

Anyone with an ounce of knowledge about the Internet knows that blocked sites will simply rename, relocate and morph into a different form to avoid detection. Once redetected that process will continue. I’d like to think that the process would be self defeating but I’m not so sure. It could mark the start of a slow death for the Internet. So what is the agenda here? One observation I make is that censorship is not the province of one side of politics. It seems to be supported by any who seek to control others.