Copyright Website Digital Millennium People Materials Takedown Video Sharing

The Digital Millennium Copyright "Act" (law) became law in 1998. It "amended" (changed) existing laws to "extend" (make something bigger or further-reaching) "copyright protections" (laws that do not allow people to copy other people's creative work) to "digital media" (electronic files).

At the same time, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act "limited" (put a maximum on) the "liability" (someone's risk; how much someone can be held responsible for something) of people who provide online services when their users "post" (upload) copyrighted materials but do not have permission to do so. For example, it limits the liability of a site like YouTube when users post videos that they do not "hold" (have; own) the copyright to.

Some people say that the Digital Millennium Copyright Act "goes too far" (takes something to an extreme) in protecting the rights of copyright holders. If a copyright holder believes his or her work is being used without permission on a website, he or she can send a takedown "notice" (official letter) to the website owner, demanding that the material be "taken down" (removed or deleted) from the website. As long as the website owner "complies" (agrees with; does what is asked) with the takedown request, he or she cannot be "held liable" (punished) for the "disallowed" (not allowed) use of the materials. However, many of the takedown requests "have no basis" (are not based on anything) and the materials are actually "fair use" (legally allowed usage) of the copyrighted material. Nevertheless, because the website owner does not want to be punished, the materials are usually taken down anyway.