Is There A Downside To Limiting Third Party Liability?

from the still-looking-for-it... dept

We recent wrote about Brazil’s very welcome decision to fix its widely abused third party liability issues, by saying service providers would only need to take down any kind of content with a court order (i.e., no simple “notice and takedown.”) This is a very smart move that protects freedom of speech as a key principle, and assures due process before any kind of content (not just for copyright issues) is removed. However, not everyone agrees. Marcelo Thompson, a professor and acting co-director of the Law and Technology Centre at the University of Hong Kong sends in a write-up he did expressing serious concerns about such a policy, worrying that it would make Brazil a hub for service providers, where forms of “victimization,” privacy violations and cyberbullying cannot easily be dealt with. He says:

Imagine if all online service providers decide to move to Brazil

While I can see Thompson’s basic concern, I’m afraid I don’t see how it’s justified. The bill does still retain ways to take down that content under a court order. Thus, there is due process in place. Will the process sometimes be abused? Certainly. But that’s the price one pays for supporting free expression.

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Comments on “Is There A Downside To Limiting Third Party Liability?”

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17 Comments
Anonymous Coward says:

“he bill does still retain ways to take down that content under a court order. Thus, there is due process in place.” – copyright violation takes a second to do, and can take years of legal horseshit to undo. due process is fine, but there always needs to be an expedient way to stop the infringement until a court can rule. otherwise, the system is to unfairly balanced to the offender, not the owner. it would make brazil into a safe haven for all sorts of abuse.

MadderMak (profile) says:

Re: Re:

just my 2 cents…

But why do they need a more expedient method – once a court is involved to remove the content surely the copyright holder would also prosecute the “infringer” for $$$$$$$$$$$?

Thus they are recompensed for the delay and costs? I am sure if the courts receive a constant stream of these they would expedite or streamline the court process in response.

Also how would it be a haven for “all sorts of abuse”… surely it would only be a haven for ISPs with infringing copyright content hosted by them?

“…years of legal horseshit…” so you agree the system needs to be improved – finally TAM and I agree :)… er that is you TAM?

MadderMak (profile) says:

Re: Re:

Sorry – I also meant to say fair point. But I really think few infringers would actually front up to court (or file response) since they would likely be aware they could face prosecution… most likely a series of default judgements would occur for the illegal content but the “fair use” ones would have the opportinity to create clear case law and examples leading to perhaps less litigation in the future (for those types)?

What are your thoughts on this?

Anonymous Coward says:

Re: Re:

Allow me to try to educate you about why procedures must exist and be followed.

***

Murder takes only takes a second to do, and can take years of legal horseshit to…uhm…undo.

I suppose this means the system is biased towards the offender. I mean, it sometimes takes years to send the guy to the chair…why don’t we remove that procedure and immediately kill the guy the moment we catch him to correct this bias?

Ok good idea! Now you have a procedure problem: a police officer kills a suspect (with proper use of deadly force).

Should his fellow officers terminate him on spot? Ok good, now you have a recursion problem, since they would also be committing the crime of murder. Cutting the recursion short, the entire population of earth would die (assuming we all followed the same rules).

Now, given this, what would you prefer? Follow the correct procedure or get immediate satisfaction?

Marcelo Thompson (user link) says:

Renrou Sousuo Yinqing

Mike — may I ask what is your timing for due process?

http://nyti.ms/aHw8i8

Daniela Cicarelli’s was short. Though she succeeded in the Court of Appeals of Sao Paulo, her video is online for the world to see: http://bit.ly/9KTjIc

It sounds to me there is no reason why OSPs, once made aware of the nature of what they host, should not be required to act as responsible agents of the communicative process.

http://bit.ly/btizt0

On top of that, there is no specific Data Protection Act (or Privacy Act, Privacy Tort …) in Brazil, and generally very few statutes dealing with networked wrongdoing.

Also, the wording of the proposed Framework renders it extremely unlikely that OSPs will act autonomously and take down content even of the most patently illegal nature. They risk being held liable if they do so, whereas if they don’t… they are invulnerable.

The only case where by law OSPs are expressly obliged to take illegal content down in Brazil is Child Porn. For all the rest… good luck to the victims.

Best,
MT

Cypheros says:

Free Expression is the Problem...

But that’s the price one pays for supporting free expression.

This is the problem. Those who oppose laws like this want a rule of the “superior”, or rule of the few. They don’t support free expression, or even due process, for the rest of the world. They simply and purely wish to subjugate the rest of humanity under their rule.

Anonymous Coward says:

“It sounds to me there is no reason why OSPs, once made aware of the nature of what they host, should not be required to act as responsible agents of the communicative process.”

TRANSLATION.

It sounds to me there is no reason why OSPs, once made aware of the nature of what they host by some authority moral, perceived or real, they should be required to act as agents of censorship for that authority to have the right to be called responsible.

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