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Removal of piracy communities (lemmy.world)

submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Earlier, after review, we blocked and removed several communities that were providing assistance to access copyrighted/pirated material, which is currently not allowed per Rule #1 of our Code of Conduct. The communities that were removed due to this decision were:

We took this action to protect lemmy.world, lemmy.world's users, and lemmy.world staff as the material posted in those communities could be problematic for us, because of potential legal issues around copyrighted material and services that provide access to or assistance in obtaining it.

This decision is about liability and does not mean we are otherwise hostile to any of these communities or their users. As the Lemmyverse grows and instances get big, precautions may happen. We will keep monitoring the situation closely, and if in the future we deem it safe, we would gladly reallow these communities.

The discussions that have happened in various threads on Lemmy make it very clear that removing the communites before we announced our intent to remove them is not the level of transparency the community expects, and that as stewards of this community we need to be extremely transparent before we do this again in the future as well as make sure that we get feedback around what the planned changes are, because lemmy.world is yours as much as it is ours.

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[-] [email protected] 38 points 11 months ago

What is the legal theory being used here?

People chatting about piracy is now a crime in US? I thought the crime was uploading or downloading copyrighted content...

[-] [email protected] 18 points 11 months ago

The DMCA has a provision on circumventing technical protection measures. It is illegal to break DRM. And it is illegal to "offer to the public, provide, or otherwise traffic in any technology... primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing protection afforded by a technological measure"

Hosting discussions, or linking to anything that defeats any DRM scheme would have them offering that to the public. A lawsuit would likely cite the specific sections of the DMCA about circumvention.

The other thing to remember, is that you have to pay to have a lawyer defend you in court. Even if you're innocent. Even if they are 100% wrong, you have to have enough money to defend yourself. And a community hosted non-profit instance doesn't want that expense.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

I wish the state put this much energy into defending my property too

Either way, fuck media companies, they can keep trying.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago

DMCA isn’t particularly relevant here though.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

US lawmakers are much better at marketing than making laws. Hence the US's abundance of terrible laws with really memorable names.

The DMCA is the US's implementation of the terms of the WIPO Copyright Treaty. EU's implementation are EU Directives 91/250/EC, 96/9/EC and 2001/29/EC. Despite being less relevant to lemmy.world, DMCA rolls of the tongue a little nicer.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Good summary.

Shorter version: DMCA is a shitty law, beacuse it's not practical for individuals to exercise their rights under it.

Until we can get rid of the DMCA, copyright and freedom of the press is threatened.

Folks in this thread would be better served turning their anger on the DMCA and those that keep that unpopular bill in the law books.

Edit: DMCA doesn't apply to this server, I don't think. So nevermind. That's nice, at least.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

The DMCA is the US's implementation of the WIPO Copyright Treaty. 110 countries have signed the treaty, and therefore have laws like the DMCA.

The EU has copyright directives which has the same effect. Lemmy.world is registered in the Netherlands. So it will be subject to the EU's implementations of the same laws.

[-] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago

Lemmy.world is based in the Netherlands, not the US. I don't know what the law is there.

[-] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago

lemmy world is hosted in Finland. the owner, ruud, is in the Netherlands

[-] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

This is a good point, could anyone comment on the copyright law differences in Netherlands v. US? I think simplifying it for everyone might make it more palatable, otherwise people will continue speculating Lemmy World is overreacting.