Slashdot Mirror
A Law Professor's Opinion of Viacom vs YouTube
troll -1 writes "Lawrence Lessig, a well-known law professor at Stanford, has an op-ed in the NY Times entitled
Make Way for Copyright Chaos which references the Viacom vs YouTube case. What's interesting about this article is that it gives some historical perspective on copyright law and the courts. Up until Grokster, Lessig says the attitude of the courts was, 'if you don't like how new technologies affect copyright, take your problem to Congress.' But in the Grokster case the court seemed to rule against the technology itself, cutting Congress out of the picture. He also explains that Viacom is essentially asking the Court to rule against the safe harbor provision of
Title II of the DMCA which should protect YouTube and others against liability so long as they make reasonable steps to take down infringing content at the request of the copyright holder. Lessig doesn't give us any insight into who's going to win but he does conclude that 'conservatives on the Supreme Court have long warned' about the dynamic of going against Congress when it comes to copyright."
"-screwing over their own trading partners (like Canada over soft wood lumber)"
Do you mean when the tarrif that was put in place because canada was subsidising their lumber industry and allowing them to undersell american mills like the chinese and japanese did witht he steal industry durring the previous decade when it colapsed?
"-trying to force other countries to go to war without evidence"
DO you mena the evidence other countries gave us that turned out to be false or inacurate? Or are we talking about the same countries who denied the evidence because the US going into Iraq would mean they would lose out on some secrete but extreamly lucrative oil deals they have made against the UN sanctions?
"-for laws like the patriot act"
well, I don't have any questions about this. Although it's usefulenss can be debated
"-being a bible thumper (nothing personal against christians - all them overly religious folks scare me) and being borderline oppressive against atheists"
Please tell me more about this. I havn't heard this one yet. If your talking about faith based initiatives, lol.. I listened to an interview with someone suing the government about it and when asked she didn't knwo anything about them other then Bush was behind it yet she was the spokes person for the organization who filed the lawsuit.
"-trying to force other countries to change their laws (like pressuring Canada for stricter copyright laws)"
And this is something new? I think it happens in about every administration including ones that aren't in america.
"-violations of human rights e.g. guantanamo bay"
Club gitmo has been overstated, and violations of human rights always comes up but the acusations equate to going into a nightclub in hte middle of winter. Am I mising something?
"-trying to police the world in general (downright scary for most if not all non-americans)"
Well, I don't have any questions about this either. I'm not sure if it is a negetive either.
"-record budget deficit"
Yes, I am pissed about this too. He has increased no discresionary-non-military spending by twice the amount the previous administration had. It never should have happened. Why do you think we waisted all that money on social services and program like drugs for senior citizens?
"-not really knowing what happened on 9/11 for sure, or what ties were there between al quaeda and iraq (I don't see any)"
I don't think there was ties between the two except for the offer of shelter when we went into that other place over there. But we have al qeada in iraq now and bush has always stated that 9/11 changes the way we look at threats, saddom was a threat and we need to deal with him before he tried to dela with us.
"and lots more stuff like that... This list is virtually endless."
Please tell me more. I want a hate filled heart too. First, You must be young. Second, It sounds like the US is better off with your loss. err the other way around..lol. Sorry about you disapointment