Tillis, Leahy File Bill Targeting Big Tech Platform Piracy
Bipartisan legislation introduced Friday would authorize the Library of Congress to designate mandatory technical measures for online platforms to combat piracy. Senate Intellectual Property Subcommittee ranking member Thom Tillis, R-N.C., secured a long-sought-after Democratic partner in subcommittee Chairman Patrick Leahy of Vermont (see 2109080077 and 2010050061).
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Tillis has explored potential updates to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act since at least 2020. The Strengthening Measures to Advance Rights Technologies (Smart) Copyright Act (S.3880) authorizes the librarian of Congress to designate technical measures through a public rulemaking process, creating new liability for service providers hosting content.
Rather than “risking the loss of safe harbors,” covered entities that “don’t accommodate” or “interfere” with new designated technical measures “can be liable for actual or statutory damages, from which innocent violators can be exempt,” the lawmakers announced. The bill would create and fund chief technology adviser and chief economist positions within the Copyright Office.
Tillis noted there aren’t any consensus-based standard technical measures (STMs): “I am proud to introduce this bipartisan legislation that will provide widely available piracy-fighting measures and create a trusted and workable internet for our creative communities.” The “technology exists to protect against this theft,” said Leahy. “We just need online platforms to use the technology.”
Public Knowledge opposes the bill. It would “force digital platforms and websites to implement technical measures that monitor all content that users upload, automatically scrutinizing everything we write, create, and upload online for the sake of copyright protection,” said Policy Counsel Nicholas Garcia. PK noted the lack of technical expertise at the CO and its “known history of prioritizing corporate interests over the interests of internet users and individual creators.” It opens the door to mass online censorship, PK said.
The bill gives the government “power to decide how Americans’ everyday digital products and services work,” said Re:Create Executive Director Joshua Lamel in a statement. Mandates handed down by government employees without expertise will “destroy online creativity, censor free expression online, hurt consumer choice and hold back new startups.” He cited the risks of security and privacy threats.
The DMCA leaves “songwriters and music publishers with few avenues to protect their work online,” said National Music Publishers' Association CEO David Israelite, welcoming the effort to strengthen STMs to hold Big Tech platforms more accountable. The bill encourages cooperation between platforms and rights holders, as Congress intended, said RIAA CEO Mitch Glazier.
Existing provisions on STMs in Section 512 of the Copyright Act aren’t working, since no STMs have been formally recognized under the section since enactment, said Copyright Alliance CEO Keith Kupferschmid: The bill provides a “sensible approach” in having the Copyright Office establish a triennial rulemaking process. The bill is a “huge step forward” in strengthening artists’ tools to identify their work and take action on digital platforms, said the Artist Rights Alliance.