{"id":850,"date":"2014-04-22T00:24:48","date_gmt":"2014-04-21T16:24:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/isoc.sg\/?p=850"},"modified":"2014-04-22T00:24:48","modified_gmt":"2014-04-21T16:24:48","slug":"our-feedback-on-the-proposed-amendments-to-the-copyright-act-blocking-websites-isocsg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/isocsg.org\/index.php\/2014\/04\/22\/our-feedback-on-the-proposed-amendments-to-the-copyright-act-blocking-websites-isocsg\/","title":{"rendered":"Our feedback on the Proposed Amendments to the Copyright Act (Blocking Websites) #isocsg"},"content":{"rendered":"

Public Consultation on the Proposed Amendments to the Copyright Act: Feedback at a Meeting Organised by the Internet Society and the Asian Internet Coalition<\/h4>\n

Venue: Office of Red Hat, 8 Shenton Way #10-00, AXA Tower<\/p>\n

Date: 21 April 2014<\/p>\n

Time: 7 pm to 9.15 pm<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Disclaimer: Because of the diversity of those attending, the views expressed should not be taken as representative of those present. Rather, they should be seen as offering a diversity of opinions pointing out the pros, cons, benefits and pitfalls of the proposed amendment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Attendees:<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Attending as Representatives of Organisations<\/td>\nAttending in Personal Capacity (Names of organisation are places of work)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Harish Pillay, Internet Society<\/td>\nCaleb Kow, TuCows, Inc<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Goh Lih Shiun, Asia Internet Coalition<\/td>\nGeorge Goh<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Steven Liew, Asia Internet Coalition<\/td>\nBryan Ghows, VIA Law Corporation<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Bryan Tan, Internet Society<\/td>\nAng Peng Hwa, NTU<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Benjamin Ang, Internet Society<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rationale for the Need of the Amendment<\/h2>\n

Is there a need for the Amendment? The notice-and-take-down regime has worked well in many other countries. It is not clear that it is not working well in Singapore.<\/p>\n

There is no data showing, for example, that ISPs are ignoring rights holders when served with take-down notices. Some of the online companies see invalid take-down notices.<\/p>\n

UK, for example, after much debate, has decided not to introduce the law. (See \u201cGovernment Drops Website Blocking\u201d BBC News, August 3, 2011, http:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/technology-14372698.)<\/p>\n

Unintended Consequences<\/h2>\n

The Amendment will protect incumbent rights holders but it may have unintended consequences of stifling new technologies.<\/p>\n

The Amendment will discourage business owners from developing a robust notice-and-take-down system as they will now wait for the court order. The notice-and-take-down regime is readily accepted as a current practice.<\/p>\n

Exceptions<\/h2>\n

Copyright law always has exceptions but there are none in this, eg fair dealing, non-commercial use, creative commons licensed material.<\/p>\n

Site-Blocking<\/h2>\n

Site blocking is ineffective as VPNs (virtual private networks) TOR (The Onion Router) networks would make it possible to bypass the site blocking.<\/p>\n

Permanence of Injunction<\/h2>\n

Copyright has a limited lifespan. So while it is efficient for the rights holder, it is not conceptually sound. There should be an expiry period for the injunction.<\/p>\n

Recourse For Wrongly Blocked Sites<\/h2>\n

There should be recourse to sue for damages from those who wrongly claim copyright.<\/p>\n

Better Ways<\/h2>\n

Encouragement should be made for diverse and flexible ways to deliver content to users.<\/p>\n

Legal Process<\/h2>\n

It is possible for someone wanting to block the site to go straight to court with little warning to the possibly offending site. It is likely that once the rights holder has a court order, other sites will fold when presented with the court order. This bypasses legal due process.<\/p>\n

ICANN has a Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS) process for handling domain names used for illegal purposes. The Amendment may conflict with this URS process.<\/p>\n

Rights holder should prove that actual infringement has taken place.<\/p>\n

There is the danger of overblocking. Any block should be of<\/a>\u00a0the infringing page, not the entire site.<\/p>\n

Better Wording<\/h2>\n

The definition of what is an ISP should be made clearer. It may be necessary to spell out what is excluded: platforms such as Yahoo, Google and Facebook, domain name registrars and cyberlockers (eg DropBox).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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