In even more terrifying internet news, long story short, there’s a big committee happening in the US Copyright Office to try and talk about whether they should expand Content ID to the entire internet, and they’re asking for public input.
So, tell them how much automated Content-ID-type systems suck and how Copyright enforcement needs to be relaxed not tightened.
Here’s the EFF Overview on this and why it’s so important, here’s the rules/guidelines for submitting your form (Pay special attention to the Statement of Interest Questions, because it’s those they’re asking about), and here is the form itself.
Again, the deadline is February 8th, so get on it as soon as you see this post! Don’t delay, the answers don’t have to be long, as long as they’re loud and clear!
[Image Descriptions: A Twitter thread where Jason Scott tells you for the love of god please comment to the Copyright Office why mandated internet filtering would be a bad idea End I.D.]
Transcription of Thread:
Your pal Jason has a Friday Writing Assignment for you. I am sorry about that, but it’s about the future of the Internet, so I hope you understand what’s at stake here. It’s for what seems like a very boring committee, but this committee is about to make some very big decisions.
Sen. Tillis, who is owned by the content companies (he’s the newest “Senator From Disney”, if you want to google that) is pushing a range of legislation to change ownership rights. He is the legislative side of a push to completely change what you think of as “digital property”.
I don’t want to flood you with paragraphs about NOTICE AND STAYDOWN, Universal ContentID, and a bunch of massive killing blows to fair use, sharing, plus the corporate takeover of the public domain and culture, but, well, you can find plenty tracked here: https://techdirt.com
So, we’re getting to the assignment part. There’s a committee meeting and zoom call coming now, where the pros and cons of what we call Content ID will be discussed. It sounds boring, and I’m sure it is, but what it is, is taking the steps towards passing legislation.
But I want it clear what’s really going on here. There is a coordinated attempt to use laws, crappy AI, incredibly intense fines and threats of jailtime to ensure that a tiny minority of companies REALLY control what’s on the internet.
Here is the form for submitting your comments. Please read it carefully, and respond using their instructions. I will not guide you on the form of your response. It does not need to be long.
What a boring URL, right? That’s how this works. Bore them out, build up a case, say “Well, we asked The People, and they didn’t have much to say.” This is a nightmare landscape coming unless we speak up. Thanks. The deadline is February 8th, but please do it today.
Two days!
I just submitted the form, myself, it’s VERY simple and you do not have to make it long; it’s better to say something simple than not speak up at all.
