Hacker News Reader

Comment by girlvinyl | Hacker News Reader

That is not how the DMCA works. All she has to do to file a counter claim is submit contact information of someone authorized to act on behalf of the works submitted, be that an attorney, friend or other business agent (the only requirement is a US address). Do you think Britney Spears puts her personal phone number on RIAA take down requests? The RIAA doesn't even own the copyrights they get taken down themselves, they're acting on behalf of the copyright owner.

Also, if you're a site owner or content owner, you need to go right now to http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/ and register as a designated agent for content and notifications. Get ahead of this before it becomes a problem. It's $35.

View on HN

Youtube obeys the DMCA rules, but also has a vastly streamlined process that's being somewhat openly abused that lacks anyway to effectively fight back.

Considering how prevalent abusive and wildly inaccurate automatic take downs are one must consider google itself is exploiting the process to obtain personal information. Google absolutely doesn't want you to remain anonymous it diminishethree value of their analitics. I think they should provide more tools to the uploader so they can make informed choices and defend their rights. I fear google will avoid this this as google benifits from the abusive system.

How does not having your name diminish the value of their analytics?

Great link, and anyone with a site should file. I'm not sure that someone with only a youtube account can file as he's not actually hosting things himself, youtube is. (edit: actually in their list there are 11 individual youtube channel owners who have registered using their youtube channel address. Some of these also have their own separate sites though. Example: http://www.copyright.gov/onlinesp/agents/h/hyundai_motor.pdf. Also, the Copyright Office's list there is abysmal - if the person lists the site starting with "http" or "www" then it is indexed under H or W and not the actual site name. Since they have no search capabilities, it's rather likely many won't be found by someone looking to file a complaint.)

Also, according to that page and schedule of fees, prices have been raised, and it's $105 now, plus $30 more if you have more than one domain name to register for, up to 10.

Also should note that the person in the link doesn't want to reveal his address or his legal name, and although the "Designation of Agent" form only asks for the address of the agent, the "full legal name" of the service provider, which would be him if he was self-hosting and unincorporated, is also required.

>All she has to do to file a counter claim is submit contact information of someone authorized to act on behalf of the works submitted, be that an attorney, friend or other business agent

This actually seems like a great idea for a business: DMCA takedown protection. Register your works with us, and we'll take care of the disputes and counterclaims. You pay us a signup fee for each work, and a fee for each work we successfully defend. In return, you get peace of mind and an agent familiar with the system to wrestle with claimants on your behalf.

should websites outside of the U.S also do this?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com