SoylentNews - User contributions [en]

TeamPages

2018-10-29T06:26:01Z

AudioGuy:

Team Pages contain their contacts and documentation. [[:Category:Teams]] also contains the team pages as well as categories containing pages used by each team.

We have openings in every team. If your interested in joining a team and you don't know where to start, jump into [[SoylentNews:IRC|IRC]] and ask around (especially someone with an @ or a + in front of their name)

*[[CommunitySupport|Community Support]]
*[[Development]]
*[[Editors]]
*[[IRC]]
*[[SystemAdministration|System Administration]]
*[[UserExperience|User Experience]]
*[[Wiki]]

See also:
* [[TodoList]] (general projects that don't fall into a particular group)
* [[CommunicationSystems]] page (exploring new ways to communicate and make decisions as a community)

[[Category:Teams]]

xx

SoylentNews

2016-09-12T02:20:40Z

AudioGuy:

This is a home for information about how '''[http://soylentnews.org SoylentNews.org]''' was started, and the vision for it.

==About SoylentNews.org==

Welcome to the '''[http://soylentnews.org SoylentNews.org]''' Wiki.

We deliver community-sourced news and discussion. This is an [https://github.com/SoylentNews/slashcode open-source], grassroots effort powered by article submissions from our readers, volunteers, and our forked version of slashcode. We highlight stories on the web which are important to everyone - especially nerds. We also provide a soapbox for discussion moderated by the site's patrons, and allow anonymous discourse as there's no mandatory registration needed to comment.

We are mindful of community sentiment, and will not bend to overreaching corporate agenda. The goal is to be an excellent source for discussion and news about technology, art, science and politics.

We've incorporated as a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation (similar to a non-profit) as we feel our mission to provide a platform for news dissemination and relevant discussion is not only essential for mankind, but also a legal right (i.e. freedom of press, freedom of speech) in some places, and these are liberties which we aim to protect.

Though the site is young and there are [https://github.com/SoylentNews/slashcode/issues bugs], we are improving and adapting to satisfy the community's needs. We look forward to pushing the boundaries of web experience and are committed to involving the community on all major decisions.

==Get Involved==

This project is run entirely by the community and there are many different facets. Here are some of the many ways to participate:

*'''[http://soylentnews.org/submit.pl Submit a Story]'''
** Try joining the #rss-bot channel in [[SoylentNews:IRC|IRC]] for story ideas
*'''Volunteer'''
** Get in touch with the '''[[Development|Development Team]]''', especially if you know perl
** Reach out to one of the other '''[[TeamPages|Teams]]''' (we have openings for many skill sets)
** Contact the relevant person: '''[[WhosWho| Who's Who?]]'''
*Hop in to '''IRC:'''
** #soylent on irc.soylentnews.org/6697
** [http://irc.sylnt.us/?channels=#soylent Webchat]
** [[SoylentNews:IRC|IRC Wiki Page]]
*'''Bugs''' and Features:
** [https://github.com/SoylentNews/slashcode/issues/new Submit a bug or Feature Request]
** [[Suggestions|Add a Suggestion]] - larger projects to tackle for the future
*'''Tell Somebody''' A friend, a colleague, any major news source....
** Do what you can to [[Spreading the word|get the word out]]
** You could participate in [[The_Slashcott|The Slashcott]]

==Contacts==

A list of people working on this project:
===[[WhosWho| Who's Who?]]===

== Useful Links ==

*[[Submission guidelines]] - best practices for story submissions
*[[Story Style]] - a guide for editors on article formatting
*[[Development]] team page
**[https://github.com/SoylentNews/rehash Code Repo] - The Slashcode fork repository for this project on GitHub
** <strike>[[DevelopmentVMHowto]] - How to get our code setup in a VM</strike>
** [[SlashDocumentationIndex]]
*[[UserExperience]] team page
**[[Style]] - some of this info needs to be merged/moved/organized into/with [[UserExperience]]
**[[CssWork]]
* [[SystemAdministration|System Administration]]
*[[Finances]] - Breakdown of our proposed spending
*[[Licensing]] - ideas about which license to use for our slashcode fork
*[[Staff_Meetings|Staff Meeting Logs]]
*[[SoylentNews_PBC|SoylentNews PBC]]
*[[SoylentNews_Site_Policy|SoylentNews Policy]]

== Similar Projects ==
* [http://pipedot.org/ Pipedot] - A complete re-write that uses a modern codebase and sports a clean look
* Usenet newsgroup comp.misc - [https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/comp.misc on Google Groups], [http://squte.com/ on Squte], [news:comp.misc via newsreader application]
* [http://technocrat.net/ Technocrat] - (now defunt) News site presented by Bruce Perens

== Archive ==

[[Archive]] -- An archive of obsolete pages/discussions that occurred before launch

MySql

2015-10-02T20:12:04Z

AudioGuy:

* [[CssWork]] - parent
* [[SlashDocumentationIndex]]
* [[MySqlCribSheet]] - quick command reference
* [[SqlSchema]] - tables used in the database
* [[SqlDefaults]] - defaults for those tables
* [[DescriptionsOfVariablesInDatabaseTableVars]]

* http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/index.html
* http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/tutorial.html

as root: mysqldump altslashdot css > zz.txt

mysqldump -T '/var/lib/mysql/test' altslashdot css

Information about mysql as used for slash on slashcott
<pre>
Database Name: altslashdot
Database user: mysql
</pre>

<h2>Version</h2>
<pre>
mysql-5.5.36
db4-devel-4.7.25 mysql-libs-5.5.36
db4-utils-4.7.25 mysql-server-5.5.36
</pre>

<h2>mysqldump</h2>

mysqldump http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/mysqldump.html

A client that dumps a MySQL database into a file as SQL, text, or XML.

The mysqldump client is a utility that performs logical backups, producing a set of SQL statements that can be run to reproduce the original schema objects, table data, or both. It dumps one or more MySQL database for backup or transfer to another SQL server. The mysqldump command can also generate output in CSV, other delimited text, or XML format.
<pre>
Syntax

There are in general three ways to use mysqldump—in order to dump a set of one or more tables, a set of one or more complete databases, or an entire MySQL server—as shown here:
shell> mysqldump [options] db_name [tbl_name ...]
shell> mysqldump [options] --databases db_name ...
shell> mysqldump [options] --all-databases
</pre>
To dump entire databases, do not name any tables following db_name, or use the --databases or --all-databases option.

mysqldump does not dump the INFORMATION_SCHEMA database by default. mysqldump dumps INFORMATION_SCHEMA only if you name it explicitly on the command line, although currently you must also use the --skip-lock-tables option. Before MySQL 5.5 mysqldump silently ignores INFORMATION_SCHEMA even if you name it explicitly on the command line.

mysqldump does not dump the performance_schema database.

Before MySQL 5.5.25, mysqldump does not dump the general_log or slow_query_log tables for dumps of the mysql database. As of 5.5.25, the dump includes statements to recreate those tables so that they are not missing after reloading the dump file. Log table contents are not dumped.

mysqldump also does not dump the MySQL Cluster ndbinfo information database.

To see a list of the options your version of mysqldump supports, execute mysqldump --help.

'''ODD BEHAVIOR OF mysqldump:'''

Symptom - when using -T option, data seems in the wrong place, or extra fields seem to exist.

This seems to be caused by the fact that when you delete a field in a table, it is not really deleted, just removed from the schema. That data is still there,just can't be referenced by normal sql commands. But when mysqldump dumps a table in -T tabbed text form, it STILL dumps all the old data. The missing fields are effectively restored, and will cause off by one errors etc.

The logic of this escapes me, but there it is.

<h2>table dump for size deletemelater</h2>
<pre>
[root@slashcode test]# ls -l | cut -b 28- | grep -v '\.sql' | sort -g

0 Mar 2 20:56 accesslog_artcom.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 accesslog_temp_subscriber.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 al2_log_comments.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 al2_log.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 auto_poll.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 backup_blocks.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 blobs.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 bookmark_feeds.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 bookmarks.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 classes.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 comment_log.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 comment_promote_log.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 comment_vote.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 dbs_readerstatus_queries.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 dbs_readerstatus.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 dbs.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 discussion_rating.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 email_optout.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 file_queue.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 firehose_history.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 firehose_section_settings.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 firehose_section.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 firehose_setting_log.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 firehose_skin_volume.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 firehose_view_settings.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 globj_adminnotes.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 globjs_viewed_archived.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 globjs_viewed.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 globj_urls.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 humanconf_pool.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 humanconf.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 journal_transfer.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 message_drop.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 metamodlog.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 misc_user_opts.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 newsvac_keywords.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 nugget_sub.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 pagemark.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 preview.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 projects.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 querylog.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 related_stories.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 rel.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 remarks.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 reskey_failures.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 reskey_sessions.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 robosubmitlock.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 rss_raw.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 sphinx_counter_archived.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 sphinx_counter.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 sphinx_search.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 spiderlock.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 spider_timespec.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 static_files.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 stats_graphs_index.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 story_dirty.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 story_files.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 story_render_dirty.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 submissions_notes.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 subscribe_payments.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 tagboxes.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 tagboxlog_feeder.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 tagcommand_adminlog_sfnet.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 tagcommand_adminlog.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 tagname_cache.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 tagname_params.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 tagnames_similarity_rendered.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 tagnames_synonyms_chosen.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 tag_params.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 tags_dayofweek.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 tags_deactivated.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 tags_hourofday.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 tags_peerweight.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 tags_searched.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 tags.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 tags_userchange.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 topic_nexus_dirty.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 topic_nexus_extras.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 topic_param.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 url_content.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 url_message_body.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 url_plaintext.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 urls.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 users_acl.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 users_clout.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 users_comments_read_log.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 users_openid_reskeys.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 users_openid.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 wow_char_armorylog.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 wow_char_data.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 wow_chars.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 wow_guilds.txt
0 Mar 2 20:56 xsite_auth_log.txt
12 Mar 2 20:56 tagnames.txt
14 Mar 2 20:56 topic_nexus.txt
20 Mar 2 20:56 shill_ids.txt
22 Mar 2 20:56 accesslog_build_unique_uid.txt
36 Mar 2 20:56 message_deliverymodes.txt
41 Mar 2 20:56 al2.txt
42 Mar 2 20:56 journal_themes.txt
49 Mar 2 20:56 topic_parents.txt
66 Mar 2 20:56 commentmodes.txt
69 Mar 2 20:56 dynamic_blocks.txt
69 Mar 2 20:56 wow_char_types.txt
73 Mar 2 20:56 accesslog_temp_host_addr.txt
74 Mar 2 20:56 globj_types.txt
75 Mar 2 20:56 css_type.txt
81 Mar 2 20:56 open_proxies.txt
83 Mar 2 20:56 people.txt
86 Mar 2 20:56 discussion_kinds.txt
94 Mar 2 20:56 clout_types.txt
103 Mar 2 20:56 sphinx_index.txt
111 Mar 2 20:56 sessions.txt
114 Mar 2 20:56 dst.txt
116 Mar 2 20:56 pollvoters.txt
121 Mar 2 20:56 hooks.txt
136 Mar 2 20:56 authors_cache.txt
138 Mar 2 20:56 globjs.txt
144 Mar 2 20:56 story_topics_rendered.txt
163 Mar 2 20:56 humanconf_questions.txt
176 Mar 2 20:56 tags_udc.txt
187 Mar 2 20:56 story_topics_chosen.txt
198 Mar 2 20:56 url_info.txt
230 Mar 2 20:56 spamarmors.txt
272 Mar 2 20:56 al2_types.txt
280 Mar 2 20:56 modreasons.txt
311 Mar 2 20:56 bpn_sources.txt
333 Mar 2 20:56 skins.txt
344 Mar 2 20:56 moderatorlog.txt
353 Mar 2 20:56 submission_param.txt
371 Mar 2 20:56 pollquestions.txt
422 Mar 2 20:56 topics.txt
435 Mar 2 20:56 soap_methods.txt
468 Mar 2 20:56 reskey_resources.txt
488 Mar 2 20:56 journals.txt
489 Mar 2 20:56 preview_param.txt
495 Mar 2 20:56 accesslog_build_uidip.txt
540 Mar 2 20:56 skin_colors.txt
607 Mar 2 20:56 pollanswers.txt
616 Mar 2 20:56 badpasswords.txt
638 Mar 2 20:56 story_param.txt
658 Mar 2 20:56 message_codes.txt
706 Mar 2 20:56 related_links.txt
743 Mar 2 20:56 dateformats.txt
859 Mar 2 20:56 reskeys.txt
890 Mar 2 20:56 achievements.txt
972 Mar 2 20:56 signoff.txt
1018 Mar 2 20:56 users_prefs.txt
1122 Mar 2 20:56 css.txt
1294 Mar 2 20:56 ajax_ops.txt
1303 Mar 2 20:56 tzcodes.txt
1312 Mar 2 20:56 users_index.txt
1316 Mar 2 20:56 users_hits.txt
1529 Mar 2 20:56 message_web.txt
1543 Mar 2 20:56 user_achievement_streaks.txt
1778 Mar 2 20:56 code_param.txt
2047 Mar 2 20:56 content_filters.txt
2132 Mar 2 20:56 reskey_hourlysalt.txt
2163 Mar 2 20:56 stories.txt
2430 Mar 2 20:56 users_comments.txt
2951 Mar 2 20:56 site_info.txt
3180 Mar 2 20:56 users_messages.txt
3385 Mar 2 20:56 slashd_status.txt
3595 Mar 2 20:56 menus.txt
3784 Mar 2 20:56 discussions.txt
4048 Mar 2 20:56 abusers.txt
4087 Mar 2 20:56 user_achievements.txt
4507 Mar 2 20:56 uncommonstorywords.txt
5099 Mar 2 20:56 accesslog_temp_rss.txt
5330 Mar 2 20:56 users.txt
6469 Mar 2 20:56 reskey_vars.txt
6619 Mar 2 20:56 blocks.txt
7016 Mar 2 20:56 reskey_resource_checks.txt
7373 Mar 2 20:56 journals_text.txt
7613 Mar 2 20:56 users_logtokens.txt
9144 Mar 2 20:56 formkeys.txt
10087 Mar 2 20:56 users_param.txt
10099 Mar 2 20:56 message_web_text.txt
10570 Mar 2 20:56 string_param.txt
10691 Mar 2 20:56 users_info.txt
10809 Mar 2 20:56 wow_realms.txt
11398 Mar 2 20:56 comments.txt
13957 Mar 2 20:56 message_log.txt
14980 Mar 2 20:56 comment_text.txt
018561 Mar 2 20:56 accesslog_admin.txt
24852 Mar 2 20:56 accesslog_temp_other.txt
50104 Mar 2 20:56 vars.txt
57261 Mar 2 20:56 submissions.txt
68640 Mar 2 20:56 dynamic_user_blocks.txt
84260 Mar 2 20:56 story_text.txt
256371 Mar 2 20:56 slashd_errnotes.txt
283635 Mar 2 20:56 accesslog_temp_errors.txt
431983 Mar 2 20:56 accesslog_temp.txt
579455 Mar 2 20:56 accesslog.txt
869491 Mar 2 20:56 stats_daily.txt
917375 Mar 2 20:56 templates.txt
</pre>

<h2>Mysql programs</h2>

All these try PROGNAME --help for details

also http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/programs-overview.html

The MySQL server, mysqld, is the main program that does most of the work in a MySQL installation. The server is accompanied by several related scripts that assist you in starting and stopping the server:

mysqld

The SQL daemon (that is, the MySQL server). To use client programs, mysqld must be running, because clients gain access to databases by connecting to the server. See Section 4.3.1, “mysqld — The MySQL Server”.

mysqld_safe

A server startup script. mysqld_safe attempts to start mysqld. See Section 4.3.2, “mysqld_safe — MySQL Server Startup Script”.

mysql.server

A server startup script. This script is used on systems that use System V-style run directories containing scripts that start system services for particular run levels. It invokes mysqld_safe to start the MySQL server. See Section 4.3.3, “mysql.server — MySQL Server Startup Script”.

mysqld_multi

A server startup script that can start or stop multiple servers installed on the system. See Section 4.3.4, “mysqld_multi — Manage Multiple MySQL Servers”.

Several programs perform setup operations during MySQL installation or upgrading:

comp_err

This program is used during the MySQL build/installation process. It compiles error message files from the error source files. See Section 4.4.1, “comp_err — Compile MySQL Error Message File”.

mysql_install_db

This script creates the MySQL database and initializes the grant tables with default privileges. It is usually executed only once, when first installing MySQL on a system. See Section 4.4.3, “mysql_install_db — Initialize MySQL Data Directory”, Section 2.10.1, “Postinstallation Procedures for Unix-like Systems”, and Section 4.4.3, “mysql_install_db — Initialize MySQL Data Directory”.

mysql_plugin

This program configures MySQL server plugins. See Section 4.4.4, “mysql_plugin — Configure MySQL Server Plugins”.

mysql_secure_installation

This program enables you to improve the security of your MySQL installation. SQL. See Section 4.4.5, “mysql_secure_installation — Improve MySQL Installation Security”.

mysql_tzinfo_to_sql

This program loads the time zone tables in the mysql database using the contents of the host system zoneinfo database (the set of files describing time zones). SQL. See Section 4.4.6, “mysql_tzinfo_to_sql — Load the Time Zone Tables”.

mysql_upgrade

This program is used after a MySQL upgrade operation. It checks tables for incompatibilities and repairs them if necessary, and updates the grant tables with any changes that have been made in newer versions of MySQL. See Section 4.4.7, “mysql_upgrade — Check and Upgrade MySQL Tables”.

MySQL client programs that connect to the MySQL server:

mysql

The command-line tool for interactively entering SQL statements or executing them from a file in batch mode. See Section 4.5.1, “mysql — The MySQL Command-Line Tool”.

mysqladmin

A client that performs administrative operations, such as creating or dropping databases, reloading the grant tables, flushing tables to disk, and reopening log files. mysqladmin can also be used to retrieve version, process, and status information from the server. See Section 4.5.2, “mysqladmin — Client for Administering a MySQL Server”.

mysqlcheck

A table-maintenance client that checks, repairs, analyzes, and optimizes tables. See Section 4.5.3, “mysqlcheck — A Table Maintenance Program”.

mysqldump

A client that dumps a MySQL database into a file as SQL, text, or XML. See Section 4.5.4, “mysqldump — A Database Backup Program”.

mysqlimport

A client that imports text files into their respective tables using LOAD DATA INFILE. See Section 4.5.5, “mysqlimport — A Data Import Program”.

mysqlshow

A client that displays information about databases, tables, columns, and indexes. See Section 4.5.6, “mysqlshow — Display Database, Table, and Column Information”.

mysqlslap

A client that is designed to emulate client load for a MySQL server and report the timing of each stage. It works as if multiple clients are accessing the server. See Section 4.5.7, “mysqlslap — Load Emulation Client”.

MySQL administrative and utility programs:

innochecksum

An offline InnoDB offline file checksum utility. See Section 4.6.1, “innochecksum — Offline InnoDB File Checksum Utility”.

myisam_ftdump

A utility that displays information about full-text indexes in MyISAM tables. See Section 4.6.2, “myisam_ftdump — Display Full-Text Index information”.

myisamchk

A utility to describe, check, optimize, and repair MyISAM tables. See Section 4.6.3, “myisamchk — MyISAM Table-Maintenance Utility”.

myisamlog

A utility that processes the contents of a MyISAM log file. See Section 4.6.4, “myisamlog — Display MyISAM Log File Contents”.

myisampack

A utility that compresses MyISAM tables to produce smaller read-only tables. See Section 4.6.5, “myisampack — Generate Compressed, Read-Only MyISAM Tables”.

mysqlaccess

A script that checks the access privileges for a host name, user name, and database combination. See Section 4.6.6, “mysqlaccess — Client for Checking Access Privileges”.

mysqlbinlog

A utility for reading statements from a binary log. The log of executed statements contained in the binary log files can be used to help recover from a crash. See Section 4.6.7, “mysqlbinlog — Utility for Processing Binary Log Files”.

mysqldumpslow

A utility to read and summarize the contents of a slow query log. See Section 4.6.8, “mysqldumpslow — Summarize Slow Query Log Files”.

mysqlhotcopy

A utility that quickly makes backups of MyISAM tables while the server is running. See Section 4.6.9, “mysqlhotcopy — A Database Backup Program”.

mysql_convert_table_format

A utility that converts tables in a database to use a given storage engine. See Section 4.6.10, “mysql_convert_table_format — Convert Tables to Use a Given Storage Engine”.

mysql_find_rows

A utility that reads files containing SQL statements (such as update logs) and extracts statements that match a given regular expression. See Section 4.6.11, “mysql_find_rows — Extract SQL Statements from Files”.

mysql_fix_extensions

A utility that converts the extensions for MyISAM table files to lowercase. This can be useful after transferring the files from a system with case-insensitive file names to a system with case-sensitive file names. See Section 4.6.12, “mysql_fix_extensions — Normalize Table File Name Extensions”.

mysql_setpermission

A utility for interactively setting permissions in the MySQL grant tables. See Section 4.6.13, “mysql_setpermission — Interactively Set Permissions in Grant Tables”.

mysql_waitpid

A utility that kills the process with a given process ID. See Section 4.6.14, “mysql_waitpid — Kill Process and Wait for Its Termination”.

mysql_zap

A utility that kills processes that match a pattern. See Section 4.6.15, “mysql_zap — Kill Processes That Match a Pattern”.

MySQL program-development utilities:

msql2mysql

A shell script that converts mSQL programs to MySQL. It doesn't handle every case, but it gives a good start when converting. See Section 4.7.1, “msql2mysql — Convert mSQL Programs for Use with MySQL”.

mysql_config

A shell script that produces the option values needed when compiling MySQL programs. See Section 4.7.2, “mysql_config — Display Options for Compiling Clients”.

my_print_defaults

A utility that shows which options are present in option groups of option files. See Section 4.7.3, “my_print_defaults — Display Options from Option Files”.

resolve_stack_dump

A utility program that resolves a numeric stack trace dump to symbols. See Section 4.7.4, “resolve_stack_dump — Resolve Numeric Stack Trace Dump to Symbols”.

Miscellaneous utilities:

perror

A utility that displays the meaning of system or MySQL error codes. See Section 4.8.1, “perror — Explain Error Codes”.

replace

A utility program that performs string replacement in the input text. See Section 4.8.2, “replace — A String-Replacement Utility”.

resolveip

A utility program that resolves a host name to an IP address or vice versa. See Section 4.8.3, “resolveip — Resolve Host name to IP Address or Vice Versa”.

Oracle Corporation also provides the MySQL Workbench GUI tool, which is used to administer MySQL servers and databases, to create, execute, and evaluate queries, and to migrate schemas and data from other relational database management systems for use with MySQL. Additional GUI tools include MySQL Notifier for Microsoft Windows MySQL for Excel.

MySQL client programs that communicate with the server using the MySQL client/server library use the following environment variables.
<pre>
Environment Variable Meaning
MYSQL_UNIX_PORT The default Unix socket file; used for connections to localhost
MYSQL_TCP_PORT The default port number; used for TCP/IP connections
MYSQL_PWD The default password
MYSQL_DEBUG Debug trace options when debugging
TMPDIR The directory where temporary tables and files are created

For a full list of environment variables used by MySQL programs, see Section 2.12, “Environment Variables”.
</pre>

<h2>Mysql configuration file in /etc/my.cnf</h2>

<pre>
[mysqld]
datadir=/var/lib/mysql
socket=/var/lib/mysql/mysql.sock

# Disabling symbolic-links is recommended to prevent assorted security risks
symbolic-links=0

# Settings user and group are ignored when systemd is used (fedora >= 15).
# If you need to run mysqld under a different user or group,
# customize your systemd unit file for mysqld according to the
# instructions in http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Systemd
user=mysql

# Semisynchronous Replication
# http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/replication-semisync.html
# uncomment next line on MASTER
;plugin-load=rpl_semi_sync_master=semisync_master.so
# uncomment next line on SLAVE
;plugin-load=rpl_semi_sync_slave=semisync_slave.so

# Others options for Semisynchronous Replication
;rpl_semi_sync_master_enabled=1
;rpl_semi_sync_master_timeout=10
;rpl_semi_sync_slave_enabled=1

# http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/performance-schema.html
;performance_schema

[mysqld_safe]
log-error=/var/log/mysqld.log
pid-file=/var/run/mysqld/mysqld.pid
</pre>

<h2>mysql --help</h2>

<pre>
mysql Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.5.36, for Linux (x86_64) using readline 5.1
Copyright (c) 2000, 2014, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its
affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective
owners.

Usage: mysql [OPTIONS] [database]
-?, --help Display this help and exit.
-I, --help Synonym for -?
--auto-rehash Enable automatic rehashing. One doesn't need to use
'rehash' to get table and field completion, but startup
and reconnecting may take a longer time. Disable with
--disable-auto-rehash.
(Defaults to on; use --skip-auto-rehash to disable.)
-A, --no-auto-rehash
No automatic rehashing. One has to use 'rehash' to get
table and field completion. This gives a quicker start of
mysql and disables rehashing on reconnect.
--auto-vertical-output
Automatically switch to vertical output mode if the
result is wider than the terminal width.
-B, --batch Don't use history file. Disable interactive behavior.
(Enables --silent.)
--character-sets-dir=name
Directory for character set files.
--column-type-info Display column type information.
-c, --comments Preserve comments. Send comments to the server. The
default is --skip-comments (discard comments), enable
with --comments.
-C, --compress Use compression in server/client protocol.
-#, --debug[=#] This is a non-debug version. Catch this and exit.
--debug-check Check memory and open file usage at exit.
-T, --debug-info Print some debug info at exit.
-D, --database=name Database to use.
--default-character-set=name
Set the default character set.
--delimiter=name Delimiter to be used.
--enable-cleartext-plugin
Enable/disable the clear text authentication plugin.
-e, --execute=name Execute command and quit. (Disables --force and history
file.)
-E, --vertical Print the output of a query (rows) vertically.
-f, --force Continue even if we get an SQL error.
-G, --named-commands
Enable named commands. Named commands mean this program's
internal commands; see mysql> help . When enabled, the
named commands can be used from any line of the query,
otherwise only from the first line, before an enter.
Disable with --disable-named-commands. This option is
disabled by default.
-i, --ignore-spaces Ignore space after function names.
--init-command=name SQL Command to execute when connecting to MySQL server.
Will automatically be re-executed when reconnecting.
--local-infile Enable/disable LOAD DATA LOCAL INFILE.
-b, --no-beep Turn off beep on error.
-h, --host=name Connect to host.
-H, --html Produce HTML output.
-X, --xml Produce XML output.
--line-numbers Write line numbers for errors.
(Defaults to on; use --skip-line-numbers to disable.)
-L, --skip-line-numbers
Don't write line number for errors.
-n, --unbuffered Flush buffer after each query.
--column-names Write column names in results.
(Defaults to on; use --skip-column-names to disable.)
-N, --skip-column-names
Don't write column names in results.
--sigint-ignore Ignore SIGINT (CTRL-C).
-o, --one-database Ignore statements except those that occur while the
default database is the one named at the command line.
--pager[=name] Pager to use to display results. If you don't supply an
option, the default pager is taken from your ENV variable
PAGER. Valid pagers are less, more, cat [> filename],
etc. See interactive help (\h) also. This option does not
work in batch mode. Disable with --disable-pager. This
option is disabled by default.
-p, --password[=name]
Password to use when connecting to server. If password is
not given it's asked from the tty.
-P, --port=# Port number to use for connection or 0 for default to, in
order of preference, my.cnf, $MYSQL_TCP_PORT,
/etc/services, built-in default (3306).
--prompt=name Set the mysql prompt to this value.
--protocol=name The protocol to use for connection (tcp, socket, pipe,
memory).
-q, --quick Don't cache result, print it row by row. This may slow
down the server if the output is suspended. Doesn't use
history file.
-r, --raw Write fields without conversion. Used with --batch.
--reconnect Reconnect if the connection is lost. Disable with
--disable-reconnect. This option is enabled by default.
(Defaults to on; use --skip-reconnect to disable.)
-s, --silent Be more silent. Print results with a tab as separator,
each row on new line.
-S, --socket=name The socket file to use for connection.
--ssl Enable SSL for connection (automatically enabled with
other flags).
--ssl-ca=name CA file in PEM format (check OpenSSL docs, implies
--ssl).
--ssl-capath=name CA directory (check OpenSSL docs, implies --ssl).
--ssl-cert=name X509 cert in PEM format (implies --ssl).
--ssl-cipher=name SSL cipher to use (implies --ssl).
--ssl-key=name X509 key in PEM format (implies --ssl).
--ssl-verify-server-cert
Verify server's "Common Name" in its cert against
hostname used when connecting. This option is disabled by
default.
-t, --table Output in table format.
--tee=name Append everything into outfile. See interactive help (\h)
also. Does not work in batch mode. Disable with
--disable-tee. This option is disabled by default.
-u, --user=name User for login if not current user.
-U, --safe-updates Only allow UPDATE and DELETE that uses keys.
-U, --i-am-a-dummy Synonym for option --safe-updates, -U.
-v, --verbose Write more. (-v -v -v gives the table output format).
-V, --version Output version information and exit.
-w, --wait Wait and retry if connection is down.
--connect-timeout=# Number of seconds before connection timeout.
--max-allowed-packet=#
The maximum packet length to send to or receive from
server.
--net-buffer-length=#
The buffer size for TCP/IP and socket communication.
--select-limit=# Automatic limit for SELECT when using --safe-updates.
--max-join-size=# Automatic limit for rows in a join when using
--safe-updates.
--secure-auth Refuse client connecting to server if it uses old
(pre-4.1.1) protocol.
--server-arg=name Send embedded server this as a parameter.
--show-warnings Show warnings after every statement.
--plugin-dir=name Directory for client-side plugins.
--default-auth=name Default authentication client-side plugin to use.

Default options are read from the following files in the given order:
/etc/my.cnf /etc/mysql/my.cnf /usr/etc/my.cnf ~/.my.cnf
The following groups are read: mysql client
The following options may be given as the first argument:
--print-defaults Print the program argument list and exit.
--no-defaults Don't read default options from any option file.
--defaults-file=# Only read default options from the given file #.
--defaults-extra-file=# Read this file after the global files are read.

Variables (--variable-name=value)
and boolean options {FALSE|TRUE} Value (after reading options)
--------------------------------- ----------------------------------------
auto-rehash TRUE
auto-vertical-output FALSE
character-sets-dir (No default value)
column-type-info FALSE
comments FALSE
compress FALSE
debug-check FALSE
debug-info FALSE
database (No default value)
default-character-set auto
delimiter ;
enable-cleartext-plugin FALSE
vertical FALSE
force FALSE
named-commands FALSE
ignore-spaces FALSE
init-command (No default value)
local-infile FALSE
no-beep FALSE
host (No default value)
html FALSE
xml FALSE
line-numbers TRUE
unbuffered FALSE
column-names TRUE
sigint-ignore FALSE
port 0
prompt mysql>
quick FALSE
raw FALSE
reconnect TRUE
socket (No default value)
ssl FALSE
ssl-ca (No default value)
ssl-capath (No default value)
ssl-cert (No default value)
ssl-cipher (No default value)
ssl-key (No default value)
ssl-verify-server-cert FALSE
table FALSE
user (No default value)
safe-updates FALSE
i-am-a-dummy FALSE
connect-timeout 0
max-allowed-packet 16777216
net-buffer-length 16384
select-limit 1000
max-join-size 1000000
secure-auth FALSE
show-warnings FALSE
plugin-dir (No default value)
default-auth (No default value)
</pre>

[[Category:Development]]

DMCACompliance

2015-09-30T06:53:38Z

AudioGuy:

Parent: [[SoylentNews Site Policy]]

== Soylent News Policy In Compliance With The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) ==

[http://mediawiki.org MediaWiki]

=== Preface ===

As a corporation established in the United States, Soylent News PBC is subject to US law. This includes the DMCA, whose provisions govern how we must handle content posted publicly by our users that is known to be, or suspected to be, in violation of a US copyright held by another entity.

In order to take advantage of what is called the 'Safe Harbor' provisions of the DMCA, which limit monetary damages to us in case one of our users posts copyrighted material, we have followed the provisions of that law and registered the required information with the copyright office. A copy of that registration and the contact information it contains (our 'designated DMCA Agent') may be found on the [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/s_agents.html US Copyright Office site] [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/agents/s/soylent-news.pdf here (pdf)].

The next section describes how we will handle such cases. For a deeper understanding of why we have found it necessary to adopt these policies, please read the section below titled [[#Rationale]].

=== User Policy ===

There are two slightly different situations where action is required by the DMCA in regards to possible copyright violations which come to our attention.

==== 1. We receive a formal DMCA Notice ====

'''In this case our actions are almost completely dictated by the law itself.'''

# If you are a registered user
## We will try to contact you through the email address you are registered under and ask you to remove the material
## If this is not done within 24 hours of when we receive the DMCA notice, we will remove the material ourselves, using any expedient means, which may include a direct database edit, resetting the password on your account so we can edit it and sending you a password reset email, or other means as required.
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to a formal DMCA request.
# If you are not a registered user
## We will remove the material as soon as is practically possible, and leave in its place a note indicating material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to a formal DMCA request.
# In the event of a dispute, the user is required by law to follow the formal DMCA provisions and file a DMCA compliant 'Counter Notification'
# The form of a counter notification is described below, as directly quoted from the law.
** (3) CONTENTS OF COUNTER NOTIFICATION.—To be effective under this subsection, a counter notification must be a written communication provided to the service provider’s designated agent that includes substantially the following:
*** (A) A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber.
*** (B) Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.
*** (C) A statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.
*** (D) The subscriber’s name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriber’s address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.
# In the event a properly written counter notification is received, staff will evaluate it on its merits and decide whether to restore the material, (no sooner than 10 days nor later than 14 days as required by law) and send a copy to the entity which filed the DMCA complaint (as required by law) OR, to not restore it.
# Please understand that the next step in the event of a restoration is likely a legal case brought by the DMCA filer. Due to our '''extremely limited means''', we are likely to take a very cautious approach at such times, and are specifically protected in this by the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA itself.

==== 2. A possible copyright violation is brought to our attention by any other means ====

In this case we have somewhat more flexibility. We are not required to actively seek knowledge of copyright violations by our users, and do not have any practical technical means to do so. However, the law does require that if we become '''aware of facts or circumstances from which infringing activity is apparent''' we must act '''expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material'''.

In this case:

# If you are a registered user
## We will try to contact you through the email address you are registered under and ask you to remove the material, establish that it is a clear 'fair use' of the material, that it is in fact not in copyright, or that you hold the copyright.
## No more than 7 days will be allowed for a reply.
## If no reply is received within several days, we MAY but are not required to, try to contact you through other means such as a comment left on your journal or in the main site comments.
## After receipt of your reply, or no later than 7 days if attempts to contact you or receive a reply have been unsuccessful, staff will evaluate the likelihood that the material is infringing, and either decide it is likely not, or remove the material ourselves, using any expedient means, which may include a direct database edit, resetting the password on your account so we can edit it and sending you a password reset email, or by other means as required.
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to staff concerns.

# If you are not a registered user
## Staff will do its best to evaluate whether the material is likely to be infringing, based upon available information, within 72 hours.
## If the material is considered likely infringing, it will be removed using any expedient means,
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to staff concerns.

In exceptional cases, flagrant repeated violations may lead to termination of a users account, at the discretion of staff.

=== Some Things Our Users Need To Be Aware Of ===

* It is not always obvious, but just about everything submitted to our site (with the exception of some user information, and articles submitted but not yet edited) is completely public and can be found by the searches of copyright holders looking to enforce their copyrights. So please be careful. '''If in doubt, leave it out.'''
* We are not required by law to actively seek out copyright enfringement. We do not do so, and have no practical technical means to do so. However if we become aware of a possible copyright infringement, we are '''required by law''' - with or without an actual formal DMCA notice - to investigate it, in order to maintain our safe harbor status.
* It is '''very''' important that we can contact you should there be a problem, or potential problem. In the event of an actual DMCA notice we have a relatively short time to respond (read the time limits above). Please make sure the email address you are registered under is current, and is actually monitored. There may well be edge cases when some input from you would be invaluable, but we cannot hear it if we cannot contact you within the time frames mentioned above.
* In view of our circumstances, we must take a very straightforward reading of the law, and cannot afford to dispute edge cases. This is quite likely to be unfair at times. Please understand our position. The law is rather heavily weighted toward the copyright holders. There is nothing we can do about that at present.

=== Rationale ===

We (Soylent News, PBC) are an entirely volunteer run operation with no paid staff. Members of our community volunteer to edit articles and perform other duties. Our only expenses are those needed to provide servers and access and pay minimal taxes and bookeeping expenses related to our status as a PBC. These, in total, amount to only a few thousand dollars per year.

Our only source of income is voluntary contributions from our users. While they have been generous, their numbers are small.

In view of this, it is clear there is no practical way for us to fund the level of legal expenses required for legal challenges related to copyright issues, or any other serious legal challenges.

Our primary operation is as a user forum where our community can submit articles and freely comment on them. A particular feature of our system, modified from one created in the 1990s by another entity, is that we do not delete or otherwise modify user submitted comments, instead using a moderation system that allows users to assign numeric scores to submitted comments. This was adopted to allow a high level of free speech while still allowing users to be selective in the quality of comments they read.
Undesirable comments are normally simply down-rated to a level where few readers will actually see it.

Due to this somewhat unusual system, there are no easily accessible means to '''completely''' remove or delete user submitted material, in the hands of staff. Users have the ability to edit and remove material in their journals, but have no ability to modify their own public comments or articles after submisssion. The only option available to staff is a direct, command line sql database edit, which requires root level privileges only available to a few staff tasked with system maintenance. The system as originated was designed specifically to NOT encourage this type of editing.

The DMCA puts us in an awkward position because of the situation described above. Prior to the passage of the DMCA, we relied for our protection on the idea, by law and common usage going back centuries, if not millenia, that entities which provide services for all, freely and indiscriminately, are 'common carriers' and cannot be held responsible for individual acts of the people they serve. In plain language, this means that if someone robs you and escapes in a Ford automobile, the manufacturer or seller of that automobile cannot be held legally responsible for the actions of the robber.

The DMCA violates this long held principle for specific uses. It has been strongly criticised for this. However, despite the controversy surrounding it, it is at present the law of the land in the United States and since we are incorporated in the United States we must comply with it.

In view of this, several staff have gone through the law to determine exactly how it affected us and what our responsibilities are. The approach taken is that, again in view of our limited means, we must strive for the most straighforward, plain interpretation of what is written and avoid attempting to second guess possible future legal challeges to the law, or interpreting language in ways that might be more favorable to our circumstances but require 'alternate' interpretations other than the most obvious one.

The most signficant item coming out of our read of the law is that there is what is called a 'safe harbor' provision in it. This provision very specfically exempts entities who follow some strict requirements in the law from legal responsibility for the actions of their users, including:

* Monetary damages resulting from copyright violations
* Monetary relief includes 'damages, costs, attorneys fees, and any other form of monetary payment'
* Damages that might result from a disputed or mistaken interpretation of whether material is infringing
* Various other situations where damages might otherwise result

This 'safe harbor' provision was determined to be very desirable for us to qualify for, in view of our circumstances.

To qualify, there are a number of conditions that must be met, notably including (with some others):

* A *Designated Agent* to receive DMCA notices must be created
* Specific information about that agent must be filed with the US Copyright Office which makes it publicly available
* We must act 'expeditiously' to remove suspected infringing material upon receipt of a DMCA notice
* The user must be notified and has the opportunity to file a counter notice. Upon receipt we can restore the material in not less than 10 days nor more than 14 days after receipt of the notice
* If we receive a counter notice, we must provide a copy to the entitity who filed the DMCA notice
* Both DMCA notices and counter notices must follow a specific format outlined in the DMCA
* We are not held responsible for any infringing materials our users submit we are unaware of, but
* If we are made aware, by any means, of such materials, or suspected materials, even in the absence of a formal notice, we must act 'expeditiously' to remove them.
* We are not held responsible if we wrongly determine materials are infringing
* A copyright owner may obtain a subpoena asking us to identify to them an 'alleged infringer' for purposes (only) of 'protecting rights under' the DMCA. (Which we must comply with)
* We must have a DMCA policy, and must 'inform' 'subscribers and account holders' of it, which must
** Provide for the termination of users who are repeat offenders.
** Be in accordance with 'standard technical means' used by copyright holders provided they 'do not impose substantial costs' on us.

Most of the provisions of the law are very clear and precise.

There are, however, a few areas somewhat open to interpretation, or whose meaning is somewhat unclear. Our interpretation of those items is covered below.

The last bullet point above referring to 'standard technical means' we are interpreting as the use of automated systems tied to copyright holders systems, such as used by very large service providers such as Google to automate the takedown process, to save staff time. Our system is so small and the expected frequency of violations so low that such a system would be an absurdity, and well beyond our technical and financial means in any case.

The necessity of terminating a users account access is also expected to be extremely low and will be dealt with on a case by case basis, the final decision will be made by current staff.

Our DMCA policy is this page on our public wiki.

The interpretation of the word 'expeditiously' in reference to how soon we remove alleged infringing materials is somehwat hazy. The courts have not yet clarified this, so we are relying on the analysis provided on this Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#Meaning_of_.22expeditious.22 page].

Since Wikipedia pages may change from time to time, the relevant paragraph is quoted here:
<blockquote>
Meaning of "expeditious"

The law provides for “expeditious” action. The meaning of "expeditious" in the context of this law has not yet been determined by the courts. Black's Law Dictionary defines "expeditious" as "performed with, or acting with, expedition; quick; speedy." In the common law, the term "expeditious" has been interpreted according to the circumstances, allowing more time than "immediate" but not undue delay. Some suggest that the most prudent courses are to comply "immediately" or to seek immediate legal advice from qualified legal counsel. In the commercial online world, taking more than 24 hours may well be viewed as undue delay. However, when legal advice is factored into the equation it is reasonable to give counsel time to review all the facts, verify the necessary elements of the notice and conduct minimal research to ascertain the current state of the law. This may reasonably occur when the material posted appears likely to be covered by a fair use, for fair use is not copyright infringement. So, in some situations it may be reasonable to determine that "expeditious" would take more than 24 hours, and if the ISP was a small not-for-profit provider, or a server run by volunteers, it may not have the resources to obtain a legal opinion with the same speed that a large multinational corporation may have resources at its disposal to comply immediately. There may not even be a person immediately available who is qualified to determine if the notice complies with the standards set forth in the act. Perhaps a reasonable court would take these factors into consideration. The courts in the United States have yet to rule on these issues.

For a commercially run on-line provider taking action within the hour to tell a customer that a takedown notice has been received and informing them that they must immediately remove the content and confirm removal, giving them six to twelve hours to comply; and otherwise informing them that the content will be taken down or their Internet connection terminated, may be considered reasonable. Some courts may find this to be too great a burden on an ISP if it receives a large number of communications at the same time or has limited resources to review § 512 notices for substantial compliance. It may also depend on how the notice is sent. If the notice is sent via regular mail or via fax, there may be a lag between the sending of the notice and its reception by those who are able to act upon it. If the notification is received by a mail delivery on a Saturday when the ISPs offices are closed and not acted upon until Monday, that may be considered reasonable.
</blockquote>

Our interpretation of this is somewhat affected by our specific circumstances, which we believe might be reasonably taken into account. The most significant factor affecting this is that our site is a leisure time activity, and in many cases users may only be able to be contacted by us on weekends, or whenever their leisure time brings them to a condition that they read email or internal messages sent to them.

In the case of recieving an actual DMCA notice, the safest time period seems to be somewhere around 24 hours. For purposes of our policy we have therefore used that. It is very ikely however that it could take us longer to establish contact.

In the instances where no DMCA notice has been received we have used a somewhat longer time period, which takes into account something closer to the time frames we actually expect that will be required to contact a user.

In the case of anonymous users, we really have no means at all to contact them, and do not store any information that could even identify them. In that case it is most practical to simply remove suspected material as soon as discovered and our resources permit.

=== Reference Materials ===

* [http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf Direct link to a pdf of the DMCA] - The safe harbor provisions are in TITLE II—ONLINE COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT LIABILITY LIMITATION (skip down page)
* [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/s_agents.html Link to US Copyright Office] - List of registered DMCA Agents
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA DMCA] - General article on DMCA at Wikipedia
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#Meaning_of_.22expeditious.22 Expeditious] - Link to Wikipedia article on the Safe Harbor provisions and interpretation of 'expeditious'.

DMCACompliance

2015-09-29T16:03:19Z

AudioGuy:

Parent: [[SoylentNews Site Policy]]

== Soylent News Policy In Compliance With The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) ==

[http://mediawiki.org MediaWiki]

=== Preface ===

As a corporation established in the United States, Soylent News PBC is subject to US law. This includes the DMCA, whose provisions govern how we must handle content posted publicly by our users that is known to be, or suspected to be, in violation of a US copyright held by another entity.

In order to take advantage of what is called the 'Safe Harbor' provisions of the DMCA, which limit monetary damages to us in case one of our users posts copyrighted material, we have followed the provisions of that law and registered the required information with the copyright office. A copy of that registration and the contact information it contains (our 'designated DMCA Agent') may be found on the [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/s_agents.html US Copyright Office site] [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/agents/s/soylent-news.pdf here (pdf)].

The next section describes how we will handle such cases. For a deeper understanding of why we have found it necessary to adopt these policies, please read the section below titled [[#Rationale]].

=== User Policy ===

There are two slightly different situations where action is required by the DMCA in regards to possible copyright violations which come to our attention.

==== 1. We receive a formal DMCA Notice ====

'''In this case our actions are almost completely dictated by the law itself.'''

# If you are a registered user
## We will try to contact you through the email address you are registered under and ask you to remove the material
## If this is not done within 24 hours of when we receive the DMCA notice, we will remove the material ourselves, using any expedient means, which may include a direct database edit, resetting the password on your account so we can edit it and sending you a password reset email, or other means as required.
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to a formal DMCA request.
# If you are not a registered user
## We will remove the material as soon as is practically possible, and leave in its place a note indicating material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to a formal DMCA request.
# In the event of a dispute, the user is required by law to follow the formal DMCA provisions and file a DMCA compliant 'Counter Notification'
# The form of a counter notification is described below, as directly quoted from the law.
** (3) CONTENTS OF COUNTER NOTIFICATION.—To be effective under this subsection, a counter notification must be a written communication provided to the service provider’s designated agent that includes substantially the following:
*** (A) A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber.
*** (B) Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.
*** (C) A statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.
*** (D) The subscriber’s name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriber’s address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.
# In the event a properly written counter notification is received, staff will evaluate it on its merits and decide whether to restore the material, (no sooner than 10 days nor later than 14 days as required by law) and send a copy to the entity which filed the DMCA complaint (as required by law) OR, to not restore it.
# Please understand that the next step in the event of a restoration is likely a legal case brought by the DMCA filer. Due to our '''extremely limited means''', we are likely to take a very cautious approach at such times, and are specifically protected in this by the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA itself.

==== 2. A possible copyright violation is brought to our attention by any other means ====

In this case we have somewhat more flexibility. We are not required to actively seek knowledge of copyright violations by our users, and do not have any practical technical means to do so. However, the law does require that if we become '''aware of facts or circumstances from which infringing activity is apparent''' we must act '''expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material'''.

In this case:

# If you are a registered user
## We will try to contact you through the email address you are registered under and ask you to remove the material, establish that it is a clear 'fair use' of the material, that it is in fact not in copyright, or that you hold the copyright.
## No more than 7 days will be allowed for a reply.
## If no reply is received within several days, we MAY but are not required to, try to contact you through other means such as a comment left on your journal or in the main site comments.
## After receipt of your reply, or no later than 7 days if attempts to contact you or receive a reply have been unsuccessful, staff will evaluate the likelihood that the material is infringing, and either decide it is likely not, or remove the material ourselves, using any expedient means, which may include a direct database edit, resetting the password on your account so we can edit it and sending you a password reset email, or by other means as required.
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to staff concerns.

# If you are not a registered user
## Staff will do its best to evaluate whether the material is likely to be infringing, based upon available information, within 72 hours.
## If the material is considered likely infringing, it will be removed using any expedient means,
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to staff concerns.

In exceptional cases, flagrant repeated violations may lead to termination of a users account, at the discretion of staff.

=== Some Things Our Users Need To Be Aware Of ===

* It is not always obvious, but just about everything submitted to our site (with the exception of some user information, and articles submitted but not yet edited) is completely public and can be found by the searches of copyright holders looking to enforce their copyrights. So please be careful. '''If in doubt, leave it out.'''
* We are not required by law to actively seek out copyright enfringement. We do not do so, and have no practical technical means to do so. However if we become aware of a possible copyright infringement, we are '''required by law''' - with or without an actual formal DMCA notice - to investigate it, in order to maintain our safe harbor status.
* It is '''very''' important that we can contact you should there be a problem, or potential problem. In the event of an actual DMCA notice we have a relatively short time to respond (read the time limits above). Please make sure the email address you are registered under is current, and is actually monitored. There may well be edge cases when some input from you would be invaluable, but we cannot hear it if we cannot contact you within the time frames mentioned above.
* In view of our circumstances, we must take a very straightforward reading of the law, and cannot afford to dispute edge cases. This is quite likely to be unfair at times. Please understand our position. The law is rather heavily weighted toward the copyright holders. There is nothing we can do about that at present.

=== Rationale ===

We (Soylent News, PBC) are an entirely volunteer run operation with no paid staff. Members of our community volunteer to edit articles and perform other duties. Our only expenses are those needed to provide servers and access and pay minimal taxes and bookeeping expenses related to our status as a PBC. These, in total, amount to only a few thousand dollars per year.

Our only source of income is voluntary contributions from our users. While they have been generous, their numbers are small.

In view of this, it is clear there is no practical way for us to fund the level of legal expenses required for legal challenges related to copyright issues, or any other serious legal challenges.

Our primary operation is as a user forum where our community can submit articles and freely comment on them. A particular feature of our system, modified from one created in the 1990s by another entity, is that we do not delete or otherwise modify user submitted comments, instead using a moderation system that allows users to assign numeric scores to submitted comments. This was adopted to allow a high level of free speech while still allowing users to be selective in the quality of comments they read.
Undesirable comments are normally simply down-rated to a level where few readers will actually see it.

Due to this somewhat unusual system, there are no easily accessible means to '''completely''' remove or delete user submitted material, in the hands of staff. Users do have the ability to edit and remove their own comments. But staff must use somewhat awkward means such as direct database edits, since the system as originated was designed specifically to NOT encourage this.

Our most straightforward approach to completely removing user submitted materials is to ask the user to remove it.

The DMCA puts us in an awkward position because of the situation described above. Prior to the passage of the DMCA, we relied for our protection on the idea, by law and common usage going back centuries, if not millenia, that entities which provide services for all, freely and indiscriminately, are 'common carriers' and cannot be held responsible for individual acts of the people they serve. In plain language, this means that if someone robs you and escapes in a Ford automobile, the manufacturer or seller of that automobile cannot be held legally responsible for the actions of the robber.

The DMCA violates this long held principle for specific uses. It has been strongly criticised for this. However, despite the controversy surrounding it, it is at present the law of the land in the United States and since we are incorporated in the United States we must comply with it.

In view of this, several staff have gone through the law to determine exactly how it affected us and what our responsibilities are. The approach taken is that, again in view of our limited means, we must strive for the most straighforward, plain interpretation of what is written and avoid attempting to second guess possible future legal challeges to the law, or interpreting language in ways that might be more favorable to our circumstances but require 'alternate' interpretations other than the most obvious one.

The most signficant item coming out of our read of the law is that there is what is called a 'safe harbor' provision in it. This provision very specfically exempts entities who follow some strict requirements in the law from legal responsibility for the actions of their users, including:

* Monetary damages resulting from copyright violations
* Monetary relief includes 'damages, costs, attorneys fees, and any other form of monetary payment'
* Damages that might result from a disputed or mistaken interpretation of whether material is infringing
* Various other situations where damages might otherwise result

This 'safe harbor' provision was determined to be very desirable for us to qualify for, in view of our circumstances.

To qualify, there are a number of conditions that must be met, notably including (with some others):

* A *Designated Agent* to receive DMCA notices must be created
* Specific information about that agent must be filed with the US Copyright Office which makes it publicly available
* We must act 'expeditiously' to remove suspected infringing material upon receipt of a DMCA notice
* The user must be notified and has the opportunity to file a counter notice. Upon receipt we can restore the material in not less than 10 days nor more than 14 days after receipt of the notice
* If we receive a counter notice, we must provide a copy to the entitity who filed the DMCA notice
* Both DMCA notices and counter notices must follow a specific format outlined in the DMCA
* We are not held responsible for any infringing materials our users submit we are unaware of, but
* If we are made aware, by any means, of such materials, or suspected materials, even in the absence of a formal notice, we must act 'expeditiously' to remove them.
* We are not held responsible if we wrongly determine materials are infringing
* A copyright owner may obtain a subpoena asking us to identify to them an 'alleged infringer' for purposes (only) of 'protecting rights under' the DMCA. (Which we must comply with)
* We must have a DMCA policy, and must 'inform' 'subscribers and account holders' of it, which must
** Provide for the termination of users who are repeat offenders.
** Be in accordance with 'standard technical means' used by copyright holders provided they 'do not impose substantial costs' on us.

Most of the provisions of the law are very clear and precise.

There are, however, a few areas somewhat open to interpretation, or whose meaning is somewhat unclear. Our interpretation of those items is covered below.

The last bullet point above referring to 'standard technical means' we are interpreting as the use of automated systems tied to copyright holders systems, such as used by very large service providers such as Google to automate the takedown process, to save staff time. Our system is so small and the expected frequency of violations so low that such a system would be an absurdity, and well beyond our technical and financial means in any case.

The necessity of terminating a users account access is also expected to be extremely low and will be dealt with on a case by case basis, the final decision will be made by current staff.

Our DMCA policy is this page on our public wiki.

The interpretation of the word 'expeditiously' in reference to how soon we remove alleged infringing materials is somehwat hazy. The courts have not yet clarified this, so we are relying on the analysis provided on this Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#Meaning_of_.22expeditious.22 page].

Since Wikipedia pages may change from time to time, the relevant paragraph is quoted here:
<blockquote>
Meaning of "expeditious"

The law provides for “expeditious” action. The meaning of "expeditious" in the context of this law has not yet been determined by the courts. Black's Law Dictionary defines "expeditious" as "performed with, or acting with, expedition; quick; speedy." In the common law, the term "expeditious" has been interpreted according to the circumstances, allowing more time than "immediate" but not undue delay. Some suggest that the most prudent courses are to comply "immediately" or to seek immediate legal advice from qualified legal counsel. In the commercial online world, taking more than 24 hours may well be viewed as undue delay. However, when legal advice is factored into the equation it is reasonable to give counsel time to review all the facts, verify the necessary elements of the notice and conduct minimal research to ascertain the current state of the law. This may reasonably occur when the material posted appears likely to be covered by a fair use, for fair use is not copyright infringement. So, in some situations it may be reasonable to determine that "expeditious" would take more than 24 hours, and if the ISP was a small not-for-profit provider, or a server run by volunteers, it may not have the resources to obtain a legal opinion with the same speed that a large multinational corporation may have resources at its disposal to comply immediately. There may not even be a person immediately available who is qualified to determine if the notice complies with the standards set forth in the act. Perhaps a reasonable court would take these factors into consideration. The courts in the United States have yet to rule on these issues.

For a commercially run on-line provider taking action within the hour to tell a customer that a takedown notice has been received and informing them that they must immediately remove the content and confirm removal, giving them six to twelve hours to comply; and otherwise informing them that the content will be taken down or their Internet connection terminated, may be considered reasonable. Some courts may find this to be too great a burden on an ISP if it receives a large number of communications at the same time or has limited resources to review § 512 notices for substantial compliance. It may also depend on how the notice is sent. If the notice is sent via regular mail or via fax, there may be a lag between the sending of the notice and its reception by those who are able to act upon it. If the notification is received by a mail delivery on a Saturday when the ISPs offices are closed and not acted upon until Monday, that may be considered reasonable.
</blockquote>

Our interpretation of this is somewhat affected by our specific circumstances, which we believe might be reasonably taken into account. The most significant factor affecting this is that our site is a leisure time activity, and in many cases users may only be able to be contacted by us on weekends, or whenever their leisure time brings them to a condition that they read email or internal messages sent to them.

In the case of recieving an actual DMCA notice, the safest time period seems to be somewhere around 24 hours. For purposes of our policy we have therefore used that. It is very ikely however that it could take us longer to establish contact.

In the instances where no DMCA notice has been received we have used a somewhat longer time period, which takes into account something closer to the time frames we actually expect that will be required to contact a user.

In the case of anonymous users, we really have no means at all to contact them, and do not store any information that could even identify them. In that case it is most practical to simply remove suspected material as soon as discovered and our resources permit.

=== Reference Materials ===

* [http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf Direct link to a pdf of the DMCA] - The safe harbor provisions are in TITLE II—ONLINE COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT LIABILITY LIMITATION (skip down page)
* [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/s_agents.html Link to US Copyright Office] - List of registered DMCA Agents
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA DMCA] - General article on DMCA at Wikipedia
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#Meaning_of_.22expeditious.22 Expeditious] - Link to Wikipedia article on the Safe Harbor provisions and interpretation of 'expeditious'.

DMCACompliance

2015-09-29T15:46:07Z

AudioGuy:

Parent: [[SoylentNews Site Policy]]

== Soylent News Policy In Compliance With The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) ==

[http://mediawiki.org MediaWiki]

=== Preface ===

As a corporation established in the United States, Soylent News PBC is subject to US law. This includes the DMCA, whose provisions govern how we must handle content posted publicly by our users that is known to be, or suspected to be, in violation of a US copyright held by another entity.

In order to take advantage of what is called the 'Safe Harbor' provisions of the DMCA, which limit monetary damages to us in case one of our users posts copyrighted material, we have followed the provisions of that law and registered the required information with the copyright office. A copy of that registration and the contact information it contains (our 'designated DMCA Agent') may be found on the [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/s_agents.html US Copyright Office site] [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/agents/s/soylent-news.pdf here (pdf)].

The next section describes how we will handle such cases. For a deeper understanding of why we have found it necessary to adopt these policies, please read the section below titled [[#Rationale]].

=== User Policy ===

There are two slightly different situations where action is required by the DMCA in regards to possible copyright violations which come to our attention.

==== 1. We receive a formal DMCA Notice ====

'''In this case our actions are almost completely dictated by the law itself.'''

# If you are a registered user
## We will try to contact you through the email address you are registered under and ask you to remove the material
## If this is not done within 24 hours of when we receive the DMCA notice, we will remove the material ourselves, using any expedient means, which may include a direct database edit, resetting the password on your account so we can edit it and sending you a password reset email, or other means as required.
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to a formal DMCA request.
# If you are not a registered user
## We will remove the material as soon as is practically possible, and leave in its place a note indicating material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to a formal DMCA request.
# In the event of a dispute, the user is required by law to follow the formal DMCA provisions and file a DMCA compliant 'Counter Notification'
# The form of a counter notification is described below, as directly quoted from the law.
** (3) CONTENTS OF COUNTER NOTIFICATION.—To be effective under this subsection, a counter notification must be a written communication provided to the service provider’s designated agent that includes substantially the following:
*** (A) A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber.
*** (B) Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.
*** (C) A statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.
*** (D) The subscriber’s name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriber’s address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.
# In the event a properly written counter notification is received, staff will evaluate it on its merits and decide whether to restore the material, (no sooner than 10 days nor later than 14 days as required by law) and send a copy to the entity which filed the DMCA complaint (as required by law) OR, to not restore it.
# Please understand that the next step in the event of a restoration is likely a legal case brought by the DMCA filer. Due to our '''extremely limited means''', we are likely to take a very cautious approach at such times, and are specifically protected in this by the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA itself.

==== 2. A possible copyright violation is brought to our attention by any other means ====

In this case we have somewhat more flexibility. We are not required to actively seek knowledge of copyright violations by our users, and do not have any practical technical means to do so. However, the law does require that if we become '''aware of facts or circumstances from which infringing activity is apparent''' we must act '''expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material'''.

In this case:

# If you are a registered user
## We will try to contact you through the email address you are registered under and ask you to remove the material, establish that it is a clear 'fair use' of the material, that it is in fact not in copyright, or that you hold the copyright.
## No more than 7 days will be allowed for a reply.
## If no reply is received within several days, we MAY but are not required to, try to contact you through other means such as a comment left on your journal or in the main site comments.
## After receipt of your reply, or no later than 7 days if attempts to contact you or receive a reply have been unsuccessful, staff will evaluate the likelihood that the material is infringing, and either decide it is likely not, or remove the material ourselves, using any expedient means, which may include a direct database edit, resetting the password on your account so we can edit it and sending you a password reset email, or by other means as required.
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to staff concerns.

# If you are not a registered user
## Staff will do its best to evaluate whether the material is likely to be infringing, based upon available information, within 72 hours.
## If the material is considered likely infringing, it will be removed using any expedient means,
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to staff concerns.

In exceptional cases, flagrant repeated violations may lead to termination of a users account, at the discretion of staff.

=== Some Things Our Users Need To Be Aware Of ===

* It is not always obvious, but just about everything submitted to our site (with the exception of some user information, and articles submitted but not yet edited) is completely public and can be found by the searches of copyright holders looking to enforce their copyrights. So please be careful. '''If in doubt, leave it out.'''
* We are not required by law to actively seek out copyright enfringement. We do not do so, and have no practical technical means to do so. However if we become aware of a possible copyright infringement, we are '''required by law''' - with or without an actual formal DMCA notice - to investigate it, in order to maintain our safe harbor status.
* It is '''very''' important that we can contact you should there be a problem, or potential problem. In the event of an actual DMCA notice we have a relatively short time to respond (read the time limits above). Please make sure the email address you are registered under is current, and is actually monitored. There may well be edge cases when some input from you would be invaluable, but we cannot hear it if we cannot contact you within the time frames mentioned above.
* In view of our circumstances, we must take a very straightforward reading of the law, and cannot afford to dispute edge cases. This is quite likely to be unfair at times. Please understand our position. The law is rather heavily weighted toward the copyright holders. There is nothing we can do about that at present.

=== Rationale ===

We (Soylent News, PBC) are an entirely volunteer run operation with no paid staff. Members of our community volunteer to edit articles and perform other duties. Our only expenses are those needed to provide servers and access and pay minimal taxes and bookeeping expenses related to our status as a PBC. These, in total, amount to only a few thousand dollars per year.

Our only source of income is voluntary contributions from our users. While they have been generous, their numbers are small.

In view of this, it is clear there is no practical way for us to fund the level of legal expenses required for legal challenges related to copyright issues, or any other serious legal challenges.

Our primary operation is as a user forum where our community can submit articles and freely comment on them. A particular feature of our system, modified from one created in the 1990s by another entity, is that we do not delete or otherwise modify user submitted comments, instead using a moderation system that allows users to assign numeric scores to submitted comments. This was adopted to allow a high level of free speech while still allowing users to be selective in the quality of comments they read.
Undesirable comments are normally simply down-rated to a level where few readers will actually see it.

Due to this somewhat unusual system, there are no easily accessible means to '''completely''' remove or delete user submitted material, in the hands of staff. Users do have the ability to edit and remove their own comments. But staff must use somewhat awkward means such as direct database edits, since the system as originated was designed specifically to NOT encourage this.

Our most straightforward approach to completely removing user submitted materials is to ask the user to remove it.

The DMCA puts us in an awkward position because of the situation described above. Prior to the passage of the DMCA, we relied for our protection on the idea, by law and common usage going back centuries, if not millenia, that entities which provide services for all, freely and indiscriminately, are 'common carriers' and cannot be held responsible for individual acts of the people they serve. In plain language, this means that if someome robs you and escapes in a Ford automobile, the manufacturer or seller of that automobile cannot be held legally responsible for the actions of the robber.

The DMCA violates this long held principle for specific uses. It has been strongly criticised for this. However, despite the controversy surrounding it, it is at present the law of the land in the United States and since we are incorporated in the United States we must comply with it.

In view of this, several staff have gone through the law to determine exactly how it affected us and what our responsibilities are. The approach taken is that, again in view of our limited means, we must strive for the most straighforward, plain interpretation of what is written and avoid attempting to second guess possible future legal challeges to the law, or interpreting language in ways that might be more favorable to our circumstances but require 'alternate' interpretations other than the most obvious one.

The most signficant item coming out of our read of the law is that there is what is called a 'safe harbor' provision in it. This provision very specfically exempts entities who follow some strict requirements in the law from legal responsibility for the actions of their users, including:

* Monetary damages resulting from copyright violations
* Monetary relief includes 'damages, costs, attorneys fees, and any other form of monetary payment'
* Damages that might result from a disputed or mistaken interpretation of whether material is infringing
* Various other situations where damages might otherwise result

This 'safe harbor' provision was determined to be very desirable for us to qualify for, in view of our circumstances.

To qualify, there are a number of conditions that must be met, notably including (with some others):

* A *Designated Agent* to receive DMCA notices must be created
* Specific information about that agent must be filed with the US Copyright Office which makes it publicly available
* We must act 'expeditiously' to remove suspected infringing material upon receipt of a DMCA notice
* The user must be notified and has the opportunity to file a counter notice. Upon receipt we can restore the material in not less than 10 days nor more than 14 days after receipt of the notice
* If we receive a counter notice, we must provide a copy to the entitity who filed the DMCA notice
* Both DMCA notices and counter notices must follow a specific format outlined in the DMCA
* We are not held responsible for any infringing materials our users submit we are unaware of, but
* If we are made aware, by any means, of such materials, or suspected materials, even in the absence of a formal notice, we must act 'expeditiously' to remove them.
* We are not held responsible if we wrongly determine materials are infringing
* A copyright owner may obtain a subpoena asking us to identify to them an 'alleged infringer' for purposes (only) of 'protecting rights under' the DMCA. (Which we must comply with)
* We must have a DMCA policy, and must 'inform' 'subscribers and account holders' of it, which must
** Provide for the termination of users who are repeat offenders.
** Be in accordance with 'standard technical means' used by copyright holders provided they 'do not impose substantial costs' on us.

Most of the provisions of the law are very clear and precise.

There are, however, a few areas somewhat open to interpretation, or whose meaning is somewhat unclear. Our interpretation of those items is covered below.

The last bullet point above referring to 'standard technical means' we are interpreting as the use of automated systems tied to copyright holders systems, such as used by very large service providers such as Google to automate the takedown process, to save staff time. Our system is so small and the expected frequency of violations so low that such a system would be an absurdity, and well beyond our technical and financial means in any case.

The necessity of terminating a users account access is also expected to be extremely low and will be dealt with on a case by case basis, the final decision will be made by current staff.

Our DMCA policy is this page on our public wiki.

The interpretation of the word 'expeditiously' in reference to how soon we remove alleged infringing materials is somehwat hazy. The courts have not yet clarified this, so we are relying on the analysis provided on this Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#Meaning_of_.22expeditious.22 page].

Since Wikipedia pages may change from time to time, the relevant paragraph is quoted here:
<blockquote>
Meaning of "expeditious"

The law provides for “expeditious” action. The meaning of "expeditious" in the context of this law has not yet been determined by the courts. Black's Law Dictionary defines "expeditious" as "performed with, or acting with, expedition; quick; speedy." In the common law, the term "expeditious" has been interpreted according to the circumstances, allowing more time than "immediate" but not undue delay. Some suggest that the most prudent courses are to comply "immediately" or to seek immediate legal advice from qualified legal counsel. In the commercial online world, taking more than 24 hours may well be viewed as undue delay. However, when legal advice is factored into the equation it is reasonable to give counsel time to review all the facts, verify the necessary elements of the notice and conduct minimal research to ascertain the current state of the law. This may reasonably occur when the material posted appears likely to be covered by a fair use, for fair use is not copyright infringement. So, in some situations it may be reasonable to determine that "expeditious" would take more than 24 hours, and if the ISP was a small not-for-profit provider, or a server run by volunteers, it may not have the resources to obtain a legal opinion with the same speed that a large multinational corporation may have resources at its disposal to comply immediately. There may not even be a person immediately available who is qualified to determine if the notice complies with the standards set forth in the act. Perhaps a reasonable court would take these factors into consideration. The courts in the United States have yet to rule on these issues.

For a commercially run on-line provider taking action within the hour to tell a customer that a takedown notice has been received and informing them that they must immediately remove the content and confirm removal, giving them six to twelve hours to comply; and otherwise informing them that the content will be taken down or their Internet connection terminated, may be considered reasonable. Some courts may find this to be too great a burden on an ISP if it receives a large number of communications at the same time or has limited resources to review § 512 notices for substantial compliance. It may also depend on how the notice is sent. If the notice is sent via regular mail or via fax, there may be a lag between the sending of the notice and its reception by those who are able to act upon it. If the notification is received by a mail delivery on a Saturday when the ISPs offices are closed and not acted upon until Monday, that may be considered reasonable.
</blockquote>

Our interpretation of this is somewhat affected by our specific circumstances, which we believe might be reasonably taken into account. The most significant factor affecting this is that our site is a leisure time activity, and in many cases users may only be able to be contacted by us on weekends, or whenever their leisure time brings them to a condition that they read email or internal messages sent to them.

In the case of recieving an actual DMCA notice, the safest time period seems to be somewhere around 24 hours. For purposes of our policy we have therefore used that. It is very ikely however that it could take us longer to establish contact.

In the instances where no DMCA notice has been received we have used a somewhat longer time period, which takes into account something closer to the time frames we actually expect that will be required to contact a user.

In the case of anonymous users, we really have no means at all to contact them, and do not store any information that could even identify them. In that case it is most practical to simply remove suspected material as soon as discovered and our resources permit.

=== Reference Materials ===

* [http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf Direct link to a pdf of the DMCA] - The safe harbor provisions are in TITLE II—ONLINE COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT LIABILITY LIMITATION (skip down page)
* [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/s_agents.html Link to US Copyright Office] - List of registered DMCA Agents
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA DMCA] - General article on DMCA at Wikipedia
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#Meaning_of_.22expeditious.22 Expeditious] - Link to Wikipedia article on the Safe Harbor provisions and interpretation of 'expeditious'.

DMCACompliance

2015-09-29T15:44:55Z

AudioGuy:

Parent: [[SoylentNews Site Policy]]

== Soylent News Policy In Compliance With The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) ==

[http://mediawiki.org MediaWiki]

=== Preface ===

As a corporation established in the United States, Soylent News PBC is subject to US law. This includes the DMCA, whose provisions govern how we must handle content posted publicly by our users that is known to be, or suspected to be, in violation of a US copyright held by another entity.

In order to take advantage of what is called the 'Safe Harbor' provisions of the DMCA, which limit monetary damages to us in case one of our users posts copyrighted material, we have followed the provisions of that law and registered the required information with the copyright office. A copy of that registration and the contact information it contains (our 'designated DMCA Agent') may be found on the [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/s_agents.html US Copyright Office site] [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/agents/s/soylent-news.pdf here (pdf)].

The next section describes how we will handle such cases. For a deeper understanding of why we have found it necessary to adopt these policies, please read the section below titled [[#Rationale]].

=== User Policy ===

There are two slightly different situations where action is required by the DMCA in regards to possible copyright violations which come to our attention.

==== 1. We receive a formal DMCA Notice ====

'''In this case our actions are almost completely dictated by the law itself.'''

# If you are a registered user
## We will try to contact you through the email address you are registered under and ask you to remove the material
## If this is not done within 24 hours of when we receive the DMCA notice, we will remove the material ourselves, using any expedient means, which may include a direct database edit, resetting the password on your account so we can edit it and sending you a password reset email, or other means as required.
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to a formal DMCA request.
# If you are not a registered user
## We will remove the material as soon as is practically possible, and leave in its place a note indicating material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to a formal DMCA request.
# In the event of a dispute, the user is required by law to follow the formal DMCA provisions and file a DMCA compliant 'Counter Notification'
# The form of a counter notification is described below, as directly quoted from the law.
** (3) CONTENTS OF COUNTER NOTIFICATION.—To be effective under this subsection, a counter notification must be a written communication provided to the service provider’s designated agent that includes substantially the following:
*** (A) A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber.
*** (B) Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.
*** (C) A statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.
*** (D) The subscriber’s name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriber’s address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.
# In the event a properly written counter notification is received, staff will evaluate it on its merits and decide whether to restore the material, (no sooner than 10 days nor later than 14 days as required by law) and send a copy to the entity which filed the DMCA complaint (as required by law) OR, to not restore it.
# Please understand that the next step in the event of a restoration is likely a legal case brought by the DMCA filer. Due to our '''extremely limited means''', we are likely to take a very cautious approach at such times, and are specifically protected in this by the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA itself.

==== 2. A possible copyright violation is brought to our attention by any other means ====

In this case we have somewhat more flexibility. We are not required to actively seek knowledge of copyright violations by our users, and do not have any practical technical means to do so. However, the law does require that if we become '''aware of facts or circumstances from which infringing activity is apparent''' we must act '''expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material'''.

In this case:

# If you are a registered user
## We will try to contact you through the email address you are registered under and ask you to remove the material, establish that it is a clear 'fair use' of the material, that it is in fact not in copyright, or that you hold the copyright.
## No more than 7 days will be allowed for a reply.
## If no reply is received within several days, we MAY but are not required to, try to contact you through other means such as a comment left on your journal or in the main site comments.
## After receipt of your reply, or no later than 7 days if attempts to contact you or receive a reply have been unsuccessful, staff will evaluate the likelihood that the material is infringing, and either decide it is likely not, or remove the material ourselves, using any expedient means, which may include a direct database edit, resetting the password on your account so we can edit it and sending you a password reset email, or by other means as required.
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to staff concerns.

# If you are not a registered user
## Staff will do its best to evaluate whether the material is likely to be infringing, based upon available information, within 72 hours.
## If the material is considered likely infringing, it will be removed using any expedient means,
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to staff concerns.

In exceptional cases, flagrant repeated violations may lead to termination of a users account, at the discretion of staff.

=== Some Things Our Users Need To Be Aware Of ===

* It is not always obvious, but just about everything submitted to our site (with the exception of some user information, and articles submitted but not yet edited) is completely public and can be found by the searches of copyright holders looking to enforce their copyrights. So please be careful. '''If in doubt, leave it out.'''
* We are not required by law to actively seek out copyright enfringement. We do not do so, and have no practical technical means to do so. However if we become aware of a possible copyright infringement, we are '''required by law''' - with or without an actual formal DMCA notice - to investigate it, in order to maintain our safe harbor status.
* It is '''very''' important that we can contact you should there be a problem, or potential problem. In the event of an actual DMCA notice we have a relatively short time to respond (read the time limits above). Please make sure the email address you are registered under is current, and is actually monitored. There may well be edge cases when some input from you would be invaluable, but we cannot hear it if we cannot contact you within the time frames mentioned above.
* In view of our circumstances, we must take a very straightforward reading of the law, and cannot afford to dispute edge cases. This is quite likely to be unfair at times. Please understand our position. The law is rather heavily weighted toward the copyright holders. There is nothing we can do about that at present.

=== Rationale ===

We (Soylent News, PBC) are an entirely volunteer run operation with no paid staff. Members of our community volunteer to edit articles and perform other duties. Our only expenses are those needed to provide servers and access and pay minimal taxes and bookeeping expenses related to our status as a PBC. These, in total, amount to only a few thousand dollars per year.

Our only source of income is voluntary contributions from our users. While they have been generous, their numbers are small.

In view of this, it is clear there is no practical way for us to fund the level of legal expenses required for legal challenges related to copyright issues, or any other serious legal challenges.

Our primary operation is as a user forum where our community can submit articles and freely comment on them. A particular feature of our system, modified from one created in the 1990s by another entity, is that we do not delete or otherwise modify user submitted comments, instead using a moderation system that allows users to assign numeric scores to submitted comments. This was adopted to allow a high level of free speech while still allowing users to be selective in the quality of comments they read.
Undesirable comments are normally simply down-rated to a level where few readers will actually see it.

Due to this somewhat unusual system, there are no easily accessible means to '''completely''' remove or delete user submitted material, in the hands of staff. Users do have the ability to edit and remove their own comments. But staff must use somewhat awkward means such as direct database edits, since the system as originated was designed specifically to NOT encourage this.

Our most straightforward approach to completely removing user submitted materials is to ask the user to remove it.

The DMCA puts us in an awkward position because of the situation described above. Prior to the passage of the DMCA, we relied for our protection on the idea, by law and common usage going back centuries, if not millenia, that entities which provide services for all, freely and indiscriminately, are 'common carriers' and cannot be held responsible for individual acts of the people they serve. In plain language, this means that if someome robs you and escapes in a Ford automobile, the manufacturer or seller of that automobile cannot be held legally responsible for the actions of the robber.

The DMCA violates this long held principle for specific uses. It has been strongly criticised for this. However, despite the controversy surrounding it, it is at present the law of the land in the United States and since we are incorporated in the United States we must comply with it.

In view of this, several staff have gone through the law to determine exactly how it affected us and what our responsibilities are. The approach taken is that, again in view of our limited means, we must strive for the most straighforward, plain interpretation of what is written and avoid attempting to second guess possible future legal challeges to the law, or interpreting language in ways that might be more favorable to our circumstances but require 'alternate' interpretations other than the most obvious one.

The most signficant item coming out of our read of the law is that there is what is called a 'safe harbor' provision in it. This provision very specfically exempts entities who follow some strict requirements in the law from legal responsibility for the actions of their users, including:

* Monetary damages resulting from copyright violations
* Monetary relief includes 'damages, costs, attorneys fees, and any other form of monetary payment'
* Damages that might result from a disputed or mistaken interpretation of whether material is infringing
* Various other situations where damages might otherwise result

This 'safe harbor' provision was determined to be very desirable for us to qualify for, in view of our circumstances.

To qualify, there are a number of conditions that must be met, notably including (with some others):

* A *Designated Agent* to receive DMCA notices must be created
* Specific information about that agent must be filed with the US Copyright Office which makes it publicly available
* We must act 'expeditiously' to remove suspected infringing material upon receipt of a DMCA notice
* The user must be notified and has the opportunity to file a counter notice. Upon receipt we can restore the material in not less than 10 days nor more than 14 days after receipt of the notice
* If we receive a counter notice, we must provide a copy to the entitity who filed the DMCA notice
* Both DMCA notices and counter notices must follow a specific format outlined in the DMCA
* We are not held responsible for any infringing materials our users submit we are unaware of, but
* If we are made aware, by any means, of such materials, or suspected materials, even in the absence of a formal notice, we must act 'expeditiously' to remove them.
* We are not held responsible if we wrongly determine materials are infringing
* A copyright owner may obtain a subpoena asking us to identify to them an 'alleged infringer' for purposes (only) of 'protecting rights under' the DMCA. (Which we must comply with)
* We must have a DMCA policy, and must 'inform' 'subscribers and account holders' of it, which must
** Provide for the termination of users who are repeat offenders.
** Be in accordance with 'standard technical means' used by copyright holders provided they 'do not impose substantial costs' on us.

Most of the provisions of the law are very clear and precise.

There are, however, a few areas somewhat open to interpretation, or whose meaning is somewhat unclear. Our interpretation of those items is covered below.

The last bullet point above referring to 'standard technical means' we are interpreting as the use of automated systems tied to copyright holders systems, such as used by very large service providers such as Google to automate the takedown process, to save staff time. Our system is so small and the expected frequency of violations so low that such a system would be an absurdity, and well beyond our technical and financial means in any case.

The necessity of terminating a users account access is also expected to be extremely low and will be dealt with on a case by case basis, the final decision will be made by current staff.

Our DMCA policy is this page on our public wiki.

The interpretation of the word 'expeditiously' in reference to how soon we remove alleged infringing materials is somehwat hazy. The courts have not yet clarified this, so we are relying on the analysis provided on this Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#Meaning_of_.22expeditious.22 page].

Since Wikipedia pages may change from time to time, I quote the relevant paragraph here:
<blockquote>
Meaning of "expeditious"

The law provides for “expeditious” action. The meaning of "expeditious" in the context of this law has not yet been determined by the courts. Black's Law Dictionary defines "expeditious" as "performed with, or acting with, expedition; quick; speedy." In the common law, the term "expeditious" has been interpreted according to the circumstances, allowing more time than "immediate" but not undue delay. Some suggest that the most prudent courses are to comply "immediately" or to seek immediate legal advice from qualified legal counsel. In the commercial online world, taking more than 24 hours may well be viewed as undue delay. However, when legal advice is factored into the equation it is reasonable to give counsel time to review all the facts, verify the necessary elements of the notice and conduct minimal research to ascertain the current state of the law. This may reasonably occur when the material posted appears likely to be covered by a fair use, for fair use is not copyright infringement. So, in some situations it may be reasonable to determine that "expeditious" would take more than 24 hours, and if the ISP was a small not-for-profit provider, or a server run by volunteers, it may not have the resources to obtain a legal opinion with the same speed that a large multinational corporation may have resources at its disposal to comply immediately. There may not even be a person immediately available who is qualified to determine if the notice complies with the standards set forth in the act. Perhaps a reasonable court would take these factors into consideration. The courts in the United States have yet to rule on these issues.

For a commercially run on-line provider taking action within the hour to tell a customer that a takedown notice has been received and informing them that they must immediately remove the content and confirm removal, giving them six to twelve hours to comply; and otherwise informing them that the content will be taken down or their Internet connection terminated, may be considered reasonable. Some courts may find this to be too great a burden on an ISP if it receives a large number of communications at the same time or has limited resources to review § 512 notices for substantial compliance. It may also depend on how the notice is sent. If the notice is sent via regular mail or via fax, there may be a lag between the sending of the notice and its reception by those who are able to act upon it. If the notification is received by a mail delivery on a Saturday when the ISPs offices are closed and not acted upon until Monday, that may be considered reasonable.
</blockquote>

Our interpretation of this is somewhat affected by our specific circumstances, which we believe might be reasonably taken into account. The most significant factor affecting this is that our site is a leisure time activity, and in many cases users may only be able to be contacted by us on weekends, or whenever their leisure time brings them to a condition that they read email or internal messages sent to them.

In the case of recieving an actual DMCA notice, the safest time period seems to be somewhere around 24 hours. For purposes of our policy we have therefore used that. It is very ikely however that it could take us longer to establish contact.

In the instances where no DMCA notice has been received we have used a somewhat longer time period, which takes into account something closer to the time frames we actually expect that will be required to contact a user.

In the case of anonymous users, we really have no means at all to contact them, and do not store any information that could even identify them. In that case it is most practical to simply remove suspected material as soon as discovered and our resources permit.

=== Reference Materials ===

* [http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf Direct link to a pdf of the DMCA] - The safe harbor provisions are in TITLE II—ONLINE COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT LIABILITY LIMITATION (skip down page)
* [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/s_agents.html Link to US Copyright Office] - List of registered DMCA Agents
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA DMCA] - General article on DMCA at Wikipedia
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#Meaning_of_.22expeditious.22 Expeditious] - Link to Wikipedia article on the Safe Harbor provisions and interpretation of 'expeditious'.

DMCACompliance

2015-09-29T15:42:19Z

AudioGuy:

Parent: [[SoylentNews Site Policy]]

== Soylent News Policy In Compliance With The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) ==

[http://mediawiki.org MediaWiki]

=== Preface ===

As a corporation established in the United States, Soylent News PBC is subject to US law. This includes the DMCA, whose provisions govern how we must handle content posted publicly by our users that is known to be, or suspected to be, in violation of a US copyright held by another entity.

In order to take advantage of what is called the 'Safe Harbor' provisions of the DMCA, which limit monetary damages to us in case one of our users posts copyrighted material, we have followed the provisions of that law and registered the required information with the copyright office. A copy of that registration and the contact information it contains (our 'designated DMCA Agent') may be found on the [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/s_agents.html US Copyright Office site] [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/agents/s/soylent-news.pdf here (pdf)].

The next section describes how we will handle such cases. For a deeper understanding of why we have found it necessary to adopt these policies, please read the section below titled [[#Rationale]].

=== User Policy ===

There are two slightly different situations where action is required by the DMCA in regards to possible copyright violations which come to our attention.

==== 1. We receive a formal DMCA Notice ====

'''In this case our actions are almost completely dictated by the law itself.'''

# If you are a registered user
## We will try to contact you through the email address you are registered under and ask you to remove the material
## If this is not done within 24 hours of when we receive the DMCA notice, we will remove the material ourselves, using any expedient means, which may include a direct database edit, resetting the password on your account so we can edit it and sending you a password reset email, or other means as required.
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to a formal DMCA request.
# If you are not a registered user
## We will remove the material as soon as is practically possible, and leave in its place a note indicating material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to a formal DMCA request.
# In the event of a dispute, the user is required by law to follow the formal DMCA provisions and file a DMCA compliant 'Counter Notification'
# The form of a counter notification is described below, as directly quoted from the law.
** (3) CONTENTS OF COUNTER NOTIFICATION.—To be effective under this subsection, a counter notification must be a written communication provided to the service provider’s designated agent that includes substantially the following:
*** (A) A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber.
*** (B) Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.
*** (C) A statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.
*** (D) The subscriber’s name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriber’s address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.
# In the event a properly written counter notification is received, staff will evaluate it on its merits and decide whether to restore the material, (no sooner than 10 days nor later than 14 days as required by law) and send a copy to the entity which filed the DMCA complaint (as required by law) OR, to not restore it.
# Please understand that the next step in the event of a restoration is likely a legal case brought by the DMCA filer. Due to our '''extremely limited means''', we are likely to take a very cautious approach at such times, and are specifically protected in this by the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA itself.

==== 2. A possible copyright violation is brought to our attention by any other means ====

In this case we have somewhat more flexibility. We are not required to actively seek knowledge of copyright violations by our users, and do not have any practical technical means to do so. However, the law does require that if we become '''aware of facts or circumstances from which infringing activity is apparent''' we must act '''expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material'''.

In this case:

# If you are a registered user
## We will try to contact you through the email address you are registered under and ask you to remove the material, establish that it is a clear 'fair use' of the material, that it is in fact not in copyright, or that you hold the copyright.
## No more than 7 days will be allowed for a reply.
## If no reply is received within several days, we MAY but are not required to, try to contact you through other means such as a comment left on your journal or in the main site comments.
## After receipt of your reply, or no later than 7 days if attempts to contact you or receive a reply have been unsuccessful, staff will evaluate the likelihood that the material is infringing, and either decide it is likely not, or remove the material ourselves, using any expedient means, which may include a direct database edit, resetting the password on your account so we can edit it and sending you a password reset email, or by other means as required.
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to staff concerns.

# If you are not a registered user
## Staff will do its best to evaluate whether the material is likely to be infringing, based upon available information, within 72 hours.
## If the material is considered likely infringing, it will be removed using any expedient means,
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to staff concerns.

In exceptional cases, flagrant repeated violations may lead to termination of a users account, at the discretion of staff.

=== Some Things Our Users Need To Be Aware Of ===

* It is not always obvious, but just about everything submitted to our site (with the exception of some user information, and articles submitted but not yet edited) is completely public and can be found by the searches of copyright holders looking to enforce their copyrights. So please be careful. '''If in doubt, leave it out.'''
* We are not required by law to actively seek out copyright enfringement. We do not do so, and have no practical technical means to do so. However if we become aware of a possible copyright infringement, we are '''required by law''' - with or without an actual formal DMCA notice - to investigate it, in order to maintain our safe harbor status.
* It is '''very''' important that we can contact you should there be a problem, or potential problem. In the event of an actual DMCA notice we have a relatively short time to respond (read the time limits above). Please make sure the email address you are registered under is current, and is actually monitored. There may well be edge cases when some input from you would be invaluable, but we cannot hear it if we cannot contact you within the time frames mentioned above.
* In view of our circumstances, we must take a very straightforward reading of the law, and cannot afford to dispute edge cases. This is quite likely to be unfair at times. Please understand our position. The law is rather heavily weighted toward the copyright holders. There is nothing we can do about that at present.

=== Rationale ===

We (Soylent News, PBC) are an entirely volunteer run operation with no paid staff. Members of our community volunteer to edit articles and perform other duties. Our only expenses are those needed to provide servers and access and pay minimal taxes and bookeeping expenses related to our status as a PBC. These, in total, amount to only a few thousand dollars per year.

Our only source of income is voluntary contributions from our users. While they have been generous, their numbers are small.

In view of this, it is clear there is no practical way for us to fund the level of legal expenses required for legal challenges related to copyright issues, or any other serious legal challenges.

Our primary operation is as a user forum where our community can submit articles and freely comment on them. A particular feature of our system, modified from one created in the 1990s by another entity, is that we do not delete or otherwise modify user submitted comments, instead using a moderation system that allows users to assign numeric scores to submitted comments. This was adopted to allow a high level of free speech while still allowing users to be selective in the quality of comments they read.
Undesirable comments are normally simply down-rated to a level where few readers will actually see it.

Due to this somewhat unusual system, there are no easily accessible means to '''completely''' remove or delete user submitted material, in the hands of staff. Users do have the ability to edit and remove their own comments. But staff must use somewhat awkward means such as direct database edits, since the system as originated was designed specifically to NOT encourage this.

Our most straightforward approach to completely removing user submitted materials is to ask the user to remove it.

The DMCA puts us in an awkward position because of the situation described above. Prior to the passage of the DMCA, we relied for our protection on the idea, by law and common usage going back centuries, if not millenia, that entities which provide services for all, freely and indiscriminately, are 'common carriers' and cannot be held responsible for individual acts of the people they serve. In plain language, this means that if someome robs you and escapes in a Ford automobile, the manufacturer or seller of that automobile cannot be held legally responsible for the actions of the robber.

The DMCA violates this long held principle for specific uses. It has been strongly criticised for this. However, despite the controversy surrounding it, it is at present the law of the land in the United States and since we are incorporated in the United States we must comply with it.

In view of this, several staff have gone through the law to determine exactly how it affected us and what our responsibilities are. The approach taken is that, again in view of our limited means, we must strive for the most straighforward, plain interpretation of what is written and avoid attempting to second guess possible future legal challeges to the law, or interpreting language in ways that might be more favorable to our circumstances but require 'alternate' interpretations other than the most obvious one.

The most signficant item coming out of our read of the law is that there is what is called a 'safe harbor' provision in it. This provision very specfically exempts entities who follow some strict requirements in the law from legal responsibility for the actions of their users, including:

* Monetary damages resulting from copyright violations
* Monetary relief includes 'damages, costs, attorneys fees, and any other form of monetary payment'
* Damages that might result from a disputed or mistaken interpretation of whether material is infringing
* Various other situations where damages might otherwise result

This 'safe harbor' provision was determined to be very desirable for us to qualify for, in view of our circumstances.

To qualify, there are a number of conditions that must be met, notably including (with some others):

* A *Designated Agent* to receive DMCA notices must be created
* Specific information about that agent must be filed with the US Copyright Office which makes it publicly available
* We must act 'expeditiously' to remove suspected infringing material upon receipt of a DMCA notice
* The user must be notified and has the opportunity to file a counter notice. Upon receipt we can restore the material in not less than 10 days nor more than 14 days after receipt of the notice
* If we receive a counter notice, we must provide a copy to the entitity who filed the DMCA notice
* Both DMCA notices and counter notices must follow a specific format outlined in the DMCA
* We are not held responsible for any infringing materials our users submit we are unaware of, but
* If we are made aware, by any means, of such materials, or suspected materials, even in the absence of a formal notice, we must act 'expeditiously' to remove them.
* We are not held responsible if we wrongly determine materials are infringing
* A copyright owner may obtain a subpoena asking us to identify to them an 'alleged infringer' for purposes (only) of 'protecting rights under' the DMCA. (Which we must comply with)
* We must have a DMCA policy, and must 'inform' 'subscribers and account holders' of it, which must
** Provide for the termination of users who are repeat offenders.
** Be in accordance with 'standard technical means' used by copyright holders provided they 'do not impose substantial costs' on us.

Most of the provisions of the law are very clear and precise.

There are, however, a few areas somewhat open to interpretation, or whose meaning is somewhat unclear. Our interpretation of those items is covered below.

The last bullet point above referring to 'standard technical means' we are interpreting as the use of automated systems tied to copyright holders systems, such as used by very large service providers such as Google to automate the takedown process, to save staff time. Our system is so small and the expected frequency of violations so low that such a system would be an absurdity, and well beyond our technical and financial means in any case.

The necessity of terminating a users account access is also expected to be extremely low and will be dealt with on a case by case basis, the final decision will be made by current staff.

Our DMCA policy is this page on our public wiki.

The interpretation of the word 'expeditiously' in reference to how soon we remove alleged infringing materials is somehwat hazy. The courts have not yet clarified this, so we are relying on the analysis provided on this Wikipedia page at [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#Meaning_of_.22expeditious.22
Wikipedia page.]
Since Wikipedia pages may change from time to time, I quote the relevant paragraph here:
<blockquote>
Meaning of "expeditious"

The law provides for “expeditious” action. The meaning of "expeditious" in the context of this law has not yet been determined by the courts. Black's Law Dictionary defines "expeditious" as "performed with, or acting with, expedition; quick; speedy." In the common law, the term "expeditious" has been interpreted according to the circumstances, allowing more time than "immediate" but not undue delay. Some suggest that the most prudent courses are to comply "immediately" or to seek immediate legal advice from qualified legal counsel. In the commercial online world, taking more than 24 hours may well be viewed as undue delay. However, when legal advice is factored into the equation it is reasonable to give counsel time to review all the facts, verify the necessary elements of the notice and conduct minimal research to ascertain the current state of the law. This may reasonably occur when the material posted appears likely to be covered by a fair use, for fair use is not copyright infringement. So, in some situations it may be reasonable to determine that "expeditious" would take more than 24 hours, and if the ISP was a small not-for-profit provider, or a server run by volunteers, it may not have the resources to obtain a legal opinion with the same speed that a large multinational corporation may have resources at its disposal to comply immediately. There may not even be a person immediately available who is qualified to determine if the notice complies with the standards set forth in the act. Perhaps a reasonable court would take these factors into consideration. The courts in the United States have yet to rule on these issues.

For a commercially run on-line provider taking action within the hour to tell a customer that a takedown notice has been received and informing them that they must immediately remove the content and confirm removal, giving them six to twelve hours to comply; and otherwise informing them that the content will be taken down or their Internet connection terminated, may be considered reasonable. Some courts may find this to be too great a burden on an ISP if it receives a large number of communications at the same time or has limited resources to review § 512 notices for substantial compliance. It may also depend on how the notice is sent. If the notice is sent via regular mail or via fax, there may be a lag between the sending of the notice and its reception by those who are able to act upon it. If the notification is received by a mail delivery on a Saturday when the ISPs offices are closed and not acted upon until Monday, that may be considered reasonable.
</blockquote>

Our interpretation of this is somewhat affected by our specific circumstances, which we believe might be reasonably taken into account. The most significant factor affecting this is that our site is a leisure time activity, and in many cases users may only be able to be contacted by us on weekends, or whenever their leisure time brings them to a condition that they read email or internal messages sent to them.

In the case of recieving an actual DMCA notice, the safest time period seems to be somewhere around 24 hours. For purposes of our policy we have therefore used that. It is very ikely however that it could take us longer to establish contact.

In the instances where no DMCA notice has been received we have used a somewhat longer time period, which takes into account something closer to the time frames we actually expect that will be required to contact a user.

In the case of anonymous users, we really have no means at all to contact them, and do not store any information that could even identify them. In that case it is most practical to simply remove suspected material as soon as discovered and our resources permit.

=== Reference Materials ===

* [http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf Direct link to a pdf of the DMCA] - The safe harbor provisions are in TITLE II—ONLINE COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT LIABILITY LIMITATION (skip down page)
* [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/s_agents.html Link to US Copyright Office] - List of registered DMCA Agents
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA DMCA] - General article on DMCA at Wikipedia
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#Meaning_of_.22expeditious.22 Expeditious] - Link to Wikipedia article on the Safe Harbor provisions and interpretation of 'expeditious'.

DMCACompliance

2015-09-29T15:39:02Z

AudioGuy:

Parent: [[SoylentNews Site Policy]]

== Soylent News Policy In Compliance With The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) ==

[http://mediawiki.org MediaWiki]

=== Preface ===

As a corporation established in the United States, Soylent News PBC is subject to US law. This includes the DMCA, whose provisions govern how we must handle content posted publicly by our users that is known to be, or suspected to be, in violation of a US copyright held by another entity.

In order to take advantage of what is called the 'Safe Harbor' provisions of the DMCA, which limit monetary damages to us in case one of our users posts copyrighted material, we have followed the provisions of that law and registered the required information with the copyright office. A copy of that registration and the contact information it contains (our 'designated DMCA Agent') may be found on the [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/s_agents.html US Copyright Office site] [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/agents/s/soylent-news.pdf here (pdf)].

The next section describes how we will handle such cases. For a deeper understanding of why we have found it necessary to adopt these policies, please read the section below titled [[#Rationale]].

=== User Policy ===

There are two slightly different situations where action is required by the DMCA in regards to possible copyright violations which come to our attention.

==== 1. We receive a formal DMCA Notice ====

'''In this case our actions are almost completely dictated by the law itself.'''

# If you are a registered user
## We will try to contact you through the email address you are registered under and ask you to remove the material
## If this is not done within 24 hours of when we receive the DMCA notice, we will remove the material ourselves, using any expedient means, which may include a direct database edit, resetting the password on your account so we can edit it and sending you a password reset email, or other means as required.
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to a formal DMCA request.
# If you are not a registered user
## We will remove the material as soon as is practically possible, and leave in its place a note indicating material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to a formal DMCA request.
# In the event of a dispute, the user is required by law to follow the formal DMCA provisions and file a DMCA compliant 'Counter Notification'
# The form of a counter notification is described below, as directly quoted from the law.
** (3) CONTENTS OF COUNTER NOTIFICATION.—To be effective under this subsection, a counter notification must be a written communication provided to the service provider’s designated agent that includes substantially the following:
*** (A) A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber.
*** (B) Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.
*** (C) A statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.
*** (D) The subscriber’s name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriber’s address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.
# In the event a properly written counter notification is received, staff will evaluate it on its merits and decide whether to restore the material, (no sooner than 10 days nor later than 14 days as required by law) and send a copy to the entity which filed the DMCA complaint (as required by law) OR, to not restore it.
# Please understand that the next step in the event of a restoration is likely a legal case brought by the DMCA filer. Due to our '''extremely limited means''', we are likely to take a very cautious approach at such times, and are specifically protected in this by the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA itself.

==== 2. A possible copyright violation is brought to our attention by any other means ====

In this case we have somewhat more flexibility. We are not required to actively seek knowledge of copyright violations by our users, and do not have any practical technical means to do so. However, the law does require that if we become '''aware of facts or circumstances from which infringing activity is apparent''' we must act '''expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material'''.

In this case:

# If you are a registered user
## We will try to contact you through the email address you are registered under and ask you to remove the material, establish that it is a clear 'fair use' of the material, that it is in fact not in copyright, or that you hold the copyright.
## No more than 7 days will be allowed for a reply.
## If no reply is received within several days, we MAY but are not required to, try to contact you through other means such as a comment left on your journal or in the main site comments.
## After receipt of your reply, or no later than 7 days if attempts to contact you or receive a reply have been unsuccessful, staff will evaluate the likelihood that the material is infringing, and either decide it is likely not, or remove the material ourselves, using any expedient means, which may include a direct database edit, resetting the password on your account so we can edit it and sending you a password reset email, or by other means as required.
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to staff concerns.

# If you are not a registered user
## Staff will do its best to evaluate whether the material is likely to be infringing, based upon available information, within 72 hours.
## If the material is considered likely infringing, it will be removed using any expedient means,
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to staff concerns.

In exceptional cases, flagrant repeated violations may lead to termination of a users account, at the discretion of staff.

=== Some Things Our Users Need To Be Aware Of ===

* It is not always obvious, but just about everything submitted to our site (with the exception of some user information, and articles submitted but not yet edited) is completely public and can be found by the searches of copyright holders looking to enforce their copyrights. So please be careful. '''If in doubt, leave it out.'''
* We are not required by law to actively seek out copyright enfringement. We do not do so, and have no practical technical means to do so. However if we become aware of a possible copyright infringement, we are '''required by law''' - with or without an actual formal DMCA notice - to investigate it, in order to maintain our safe harbor status.
* It is '''very''' important that we can contact you should there be a problem, or potential problem. In the event of an actual DMCA notice we have a relatively short time to respond (read the time limits above). Please make sure the email address you are registered under is current, and is actually monitored. There may well be edge cases when some input from you would be invaluable, but we cannot hear it if we cannot contact you within the time frames mentioned above.
* In view of our circumstances, we must take a very straightforward reading of the law, and cannot afford to dispute edge cases. This is quite likely to be unfair at times. Please understand our position. The law is rather heavily weighted toward the copyright holders. There is nothing we can do about that at present.

=== Rationale ===

We (Soylent News, PBC) are an entirely volunteer run operation with no paid staff. Members of our community volunteer to edit articles and perform other duties. Our only expenses are those needed to provide servers and access and pay minimal taxes and bookeeping expenses related to our status as a PBC. These, in total, amount to only a few thousand dollars per year.

Our only source of income is voluntary contributions from our users. While they have been generous, their numbers are small.

In view of this, it is clear there is no practical way for us to fund the level of legal expenses required for legal challenges related to copyright issues, or any other serious legal challenges.

Our primary operation is as a user forum where our community can submit articles and freely comment on them. A particular feature of our system, modified from one created in the 1990s by another entity, is that we do not delete or otherwise modify user submitted comments, instead using a moderation system that allows users to assign numeric scores to submitted comments. This was adopted to allow a high level of free speech while still allowing users to be selective in the quality of comments they read.
Undesirable comments are normally simply down-rated to a level where few readers will actually see it.

Due to this somewhat unusual system, there are no easily accessible means to '''completely''' remove or delete user submitted material, in the hands of staff. Users do have the ability to edit and remove their own comments. But staff must use somewhat awkward means such as direct database edits, since the system as originated was designed specifically to NOT encourage this.

Our most straightforward approach to completely removing user submitted materials is to ask the user to remove it.

The DMCA puts us in an awkward position because of the situation described above. Prior to the passage of the DMCA, we relied for our protection on the idea, by law and common usage going back centuries, if not millenia, that entities which provide services for all, freely and indiscriminately, are 'common carriers' and cannot be held responsible for individual acts of the people they serve. In plain language, this means that if someome robs you and escapes in a Ford automobile, the manufacturer or seller of that automobile cannot be held legally responsible for the actions of the robber.

The DMCA violates this long held principle for specific uses. It has been strongly criticised for this. However, despite the controversy surrounding it, it is at present the law of the land in the United States and since we are incorporated in the United States we must comply with it.

In view of this, several staff have gone through the law to determine exactly how it affected us and what our responsibilities are. The approach taken is that, again in view of our limited means, we must strive for the most straighforward, plain interpretation of what is written and avoid attempting to second guess possible future legal challeges to the law, or interpreting language in ways that might be more favorable to our circumstances but require 'alternate' interpretations other than the most obvious one.

The most signficant item coming out of our read of the law is that there is what is called a 'safe harbor' provision in it. This provision very specfically exempts entities who follow some strict requirements in the law from legal responsibility for the actions of their users, including:

* Monetary damages resulting from copyright violations
* Monetary relief includes 'damages, costs, attorneys fees, and any other form of monetary payment'
* Damages that might result from a disputed or mistaken interpretation of whether material is infringing
* Various other situations where damages might otherwise result

This 'safe harbor' provision was determined to be very desirable for us to qualify for, in view of our circumstances.

To qualify, there are a number of conditions that must be met, notably including (with some others):

* A *Designated Agent* to receive DMCA notices must be created
* Specific information about that agent must be filed with the US Copyright Office which makes it publicly available
* We must act 'expeditiously' to remove suspected infringing material upon receipt of a DMCA notice
* The user must be notified and has the opportunity to file a counter notice. Upon receipt we can restore the material in not less than 10 days nor more than 14 days after receipt of the notice
* If we receive a counter notice, we must provide a copy to the entitity who filed the DMCA notice
* Both DMCA notices and counter notices must follow a specific format outlined in the DMCA
* We are not held responsible for any infringing materials our users submit we are unaware of, but
* If we are made aware, by any means, of such materials, or suspected materials, even in the absence of a formal notice, we must act 'expeditiously' to remove them.
* We are not held responsible if we wrongly determine materials are infringing
* A copyright owner may obtain a subpoena asking us to identify to them an 'alleged infringer' for purposes (only) of 'protecting rights under' the DMCA. (Which we must comply with)
* We must have a DMCA policy, and must 'inform' 'subscribers and account holders' of it, which must
** Provide for the termination of users who are repeat offenders.
** Be in accordance with 'standard technical means' used by copyright holders provided they 'do not impose substantial costs' on us.

Most of the provisions of the law are very clear and precise.

There are, however, a few areas somewhat open to interpretation, or whose meaning is somewhat unclear. Our interpretation of those items is covered below.

The last bullet point above referring to 'standard technical means' we are interpreting as the use of automated systems tied to copyright holders systems, such as used by very large service providers such as Google to automate the takedown process, to save staff time. Our system is so small and the expected frequency of violations so low that such a system would be an absurdity, and well beyond our technical and financial means in any case.

The necessity of terminating a users account access is also expected to be extremely low and will be dealt with on a case by case basis, the final decision will be made by current staff.

Our DMCA policy is this page on our public wiki.

The interpretation of the word 'expeditiously' in reference to how soon we remove alleged infringing materials is somehwat hazy. The courts have not yet clarified this, so we are relying on the analysis provided on this Wikipedia page at [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#Meaning_of_.22expeditious.22]

Since Wikipedia pages may change from time to time, I quote the relevant paragraph here:
<blockquote>
Meaning of "expeditious"

The law provides for “expeditious” action. The meaning of "expeditious" in the context of this law has not yet been determined by the courts. Black's Law Dictionary defines "expeditious" as "performed with, or acting with, expedition; quick; speedy." In the common law, the term "expeditious" has been interpreted according to the circumstances, allowing more time than "immediate" but not undue delay. Some suggest that the most prudent courses are to comply "immediately" or to seek immediate legal advice from qualified legal counsel. In the commercial online world, taking more than 24 hours may well be viewed as undue delay. However, when legal advice is factored into the equation it is reasonable to give counsel time to review all the facts, verify the necessary elements of the notice and conduct minimal research to ascertain the current state of the law. This may reasonably occur when the material posted appears likely to be covered by a fair use, for fair use is not copyright infringement. So, in some situations it may be reasonable to determine that "expeditious" would take more than 24 hours, and if the ISP was a small not-for-profit provider, or a server run by volunteers, it may not have the resources to obtain a legal opinion with the same speed that a large multinational corporation may have resources at its disposal to comply immediately. There may not even be a person immediately available who is qualified to determine if the notice complies with the standards set forth in the act. Perhaps a reasonable court would take these factors into consideration. The courts in the United States have yet to rule on these issues.

For a commercially run on-line provider taking action within the hour to tell a customer that a takedown notice has been received and informing them that they must immediately remove the content and confirm removal, giving them six to twelve hours to comply; and otherwise informing them that the content will be taken down or their Internet connection terminated, may be considered reasonable. Some courts may find this to be too great a burden on an ISP if it receives a large number of communications at the same time or has limited resources to review § 512 notices for substantial compliance. It may also depend on how the notice is sent. If the notice is sent via regular mail or via fax, there may be a lag between the sending of the notice and its reception by those who are able to act upon it. If the notification is received by a mail delivery on a Saturday when the ISPs offices are closed and not acted upon until Monday, that may be considered reasonable.
</blockquote>

Our interpretation of this is somewhat affected by our specific circumstances, which we believe might be reasonably taken into account. The most significant factor affecting this is that our site is a leisure time activity, and in many cases users may only be able to be contacted by us on weekends, or whenever their leisure time brings them to a condition that they read email or internal messages sent to them.

In the case of recieving an actual DMCA notice, the safest time period seems to be somewhere around 24 hours. For purposes of our policy we have therefore used that. It is very ikely however that it could take us longer to establish contact.

In the instances where no DMCA notice has been received we have used a somewhat longer time period, which takes into account something closer to the time frames we actually expect that will be required to contact a user.

In the case of anonymous users, we really have no means at all to contact them, and do not store any information that could even identify them. In that case it is most practical to simply remove suspected material as soon as discovered and our resources permit.

=== Reference Materials ===

* [http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf Direct link to a pdf of the DMCA] - The safe harbor provisions are in TITLE II—ONLINE COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT LIABILITY LIMITATION (skip down page)
* [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/s_agents.html Link to US Copyright Office] - List of registered DMCA Agents
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA DMCA] - General article on DMCA at Wikipedia
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#Meaning_of_.22expeditious.22 Expeditious] - Link to Wikipedia article on the Safe Harbor provisions and interpretation of 'expeditious'.

DMCACompliance

2015-09-29T15:24:53Z

AudioGuy:

Parent: [[SoylentNews Site Policy]]

== Soylent News Policy In Compliance With The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) ==

[http://mediawiki.org MediaWiki]

=== Preface ===

As a corporation established in the United States, Soylent News PBC is subject to US law. This includes the DMCA, whose provisions govern how we must handle content posted publicly by our users that is known to be, or suspected to be, in violation of a US copyright held by another entity.

In order to take advantage of what is called the 'Safe Harbor' provisions of the DMCA, which limit monetary damages to us in case one of our users posts copyrighted material, we have followed the provisions of that law and registered the required information with the copyright office. A copy of that registration and the contact information it contains (our 'designated DMCA Agent') may be found on the [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/s_agents.html US Copyright Office site] [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/agents/s/soylent-news.pdf here (pdf)].

The next section describes how we will handle such cases. For a deeper understanding of why we have found it necessary to adopt these policies, please read the section below titled [[#Rationale]].

=== User Policy ===

There are two slightly different situations where action is required by the DMCA in regards to possible copyright violations which come to our attention.

==== 1. We receive a formal DMCA Notice ====

'''In this case our actions are almost completely dictated by the law itself.'''

# If you are a registered user
## We will try to contact you through the email address you are registered under and ask you to remove the material
## If this is not done within 24 hours of when we receive the DMCA notice, we will remove the material ourselves, using any expedient means, which may include a direct database edit, resetting the password on your account so we can edit it and sending you a password reset email, or other means as required.
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to a formal DMCA request.
# If you are not a registered user
## We will remove the material as soon as is practically possible, and leave in its place a note indicating material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to a formal DMCA request.
# In the event of a dispute, the user is required by law to follow the formal DMCA provisions and file a DMCA compliant 'Counter Notification'
# The form of a counter notification is described below, as directly quoted from the law.
** (3) CONTENTS OF COUNTER NOTIFICATION.—To be effective under this subsection, a counter notification must be a written communication provided to the service provider’s designated agent that includes substantially the following:
*** (A) A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber.
*** (B) Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.
*** (C) A statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.
*** (D) The subscriber’s name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriber’s address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.
# In the event a properly written counter notification is received, staff will evaluate it on its merits and decide whether to restore the material, (no sooner than 10 days nor later than 14 days as required by law) and send a copy to the entity which filed the DMCA complaint (as required by law) OR, to not restore it.
# Please understand that the next step in the event of a restoration is likely a legal case brought by the DMCA filer. Due to our '''extremely limited means''', we are likely to take a very cautious approach at such times, and are specifically protected in this by the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA itself.

==== 2. A possible copyright violation is brought to our attention by any other means ====

In this case we have somewhat more flexibility. We are not required to actively seek knowledge of copyright violations by our users, and do not have any practical technical means to do so. However, the law does require that if we become '''aware of facts or circumstances from which infringing activity is apparent''' we must act '''expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material'''.

In this case:

# If you are a registered user
## We will try to contact you through the email address you are registered under and ask you to remove the material, establish that it is a clear 'fair use' of the material, that it is in fact not in copyright, or that you hold the copyright.
## No more than 7 days will be allowed for a reply.
## If no reply is received within several days, we MAY but are not required to, try to contact you through other means such as a comment left on your journal or in the main site comments.
## After receipt of your reply, or no later than 7 days if attempts to contact you or receive a reply have been unsuccessful, staff will evaluate the likelihood that the material is infringing, and either decide it is likely not, or remove the material ourselves, using any expedient means, which may include a direct database edit, resetting the password on your account so we can edit it and sending you a password reset email, or by other means as required.
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to staff concerns.

# If you are not a registered user
## Staff will do its best to evaluate whether the material is likely to be infringing, based upon available information, within 72 hours.
## If the material is considered likely infringing, it will be removed using any expedient means,
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to staff concerns.

In exceptional cases, flagrant repeated violations may lead to termination of a users account, at the discretion of staff.

=== Some Things Our Users Need To Be Aware Of ===

* It is not always obvious, but just about everything submitted to our site (with the exception of some user information, and articles submitted but not yet edited) is completely public and can be found by the searches of copyright holders looking to enforce their copyrights. So please be careful. '''If in doubt, leave it out.'''
* We are not required by law to actively seek out copyright enfringement. We do not do so, and have no practical technical means to do so. However if we become aware of a possible copyright infringement, we are '''required by law''' - with or without an actual formal DMCA notice - to investigate it, in order to maintain our safe harbor status.
* It is '''very''' important that we can contact you should there be a problem, or potential problem. In the event of an actual DMCA notice we have a relatively short time to respond (read the time limits above). Please make sure the email address you are registered under is current, and is actually monitored. There may well be edge cases when some input from you would be invaluable, but we cannot hear it if we cannot contact you within the time frames mentioned above.
* In view of our circumstances, we must take a very straightforward reading of the law, and cannot afford to dispute edge cases. This is quite likely to be unfair at times. Please understand our position. The law is rather heavily weighted toward the copyright holders. There is nothing we can do about that at present.

=== Rationale ===

We (Soylent News, PBC) are an entirely volunteer run operation with no paid staff. Members of our community volunteer to edit articles and perform other duties. Our only expenses are those needed to provide servers and access and pay minimal taxes and bookeeping expenses related to our status as a PBC. These, in total, amount to only a few thousand dollars per year.

Our only source of income is voluntary contributions from our users. While they have been generous, their numbers are small.

In view of this, it is clear there is no practical way for us to fund the level of legal expenses required for legal challenges related to copyright issues, or any other serious legal challenges.

Our primary operation is as a user forum where our community can submit articles and freely comment on them. A particular feature of our system, modified from one created in the 1990s by another entity, is that we do not delete or otherwise modify user submitted comments, instead using a moderation system that allows users to assign numeric scores to submitted comments. This was adopted to allow a high level of free speech while still allowing users to be selective in the quality of comments they read.

Due to this somewhat unusual system, there are no easily accessible means to remove or delete user input to the extent of completely removing it, in the hands of staff. Users do have the ability to edit and remove their own comments. But staff must use somewhat awkward means such as direct database edits, since the system as originated was designed specifically to NOT encourage this.

Our most straightforward approach to completely removing user submitted materials is to ask the user to remove it.

The DMCA puts us in an awkward position because of the situation described above. Prior to the passage of the DMCA, we relied for our protection on the idea, by law and common usage going back centuries if not millenia, that entities which provide services for all, freely and indiscriminately, are 'common carriers' and cannot be held responsible for individual acts of the people they serve. In plain language, this means that if someome robs you and escapes in a Ford automobile, the manufacturer or seller of that automobile cannot be held legally responsible for the actions of the robber.

The DMCA violates this long held principle for specific uses. It has been strongly criticised for this. However, despite the controversy surrounding it, it is at present the law of the land in the United States and since we are incorporated in the United States we must comply with it.

In view of this, several staff have gone through the law to determine exactly how it affected us and what our responsibilities are. The approach taken is that, again in view of our limited means, we must strive for the most straighforward, plain interpretation of what is written and avoid attempting to second guess possible future legal challeges to the law, or interpreting language in ways that might be more favorable to our circumstances but require 'alternate' interpretations other than the most obvious one.

The most signficant item coming out of our read of the law is that there is what is called a 'safe harbor' provision in it. This provision very specfically exempts entities who follow some strict requirements in the law from legal responsibility for the actions of their users, including:

* Monetary damages resulting from copyright violations
* Monetary relief includes 'damages, costs, attorneys fees, and any other form of monetary payment'
* Damages that might result from a disputed or mistaken interpretation of whether material is infringing
* Various other situations where damages might otherwise result

This 'safe harbor' provision was determined to be very desirable for us to qualify for, in view of our circumstances.

To qualify, there are a number of conditions that must be met, notably including (with some others):

* A *Designated Agent* for to receive DMCA notices must be created
* Specific information about that agent must be filed with the US Copyright Office which makes it publicly available
* We must act 'expeditiously' to remove suspected infringing material upon receipt of a DMCA notice
* The user must be notified and has the opportunity to file a counter notice. Upon receipt we can restore the material in not less than 10 days nor more than 14 days after receipt of the notice
* If we receive a counter notice, we must provide a copy to the entitity who filed the DMCA notice
* Both DMCA notices and counter notices must follow a specific format outlined in the DMCA
* We are not held responsible for any infringing materials our users submit we are unaware of, but
* If we are made aware, by any means, of such materials, or suspected materials, even in the absence of a formal notice, we must act 'expeditiously' to remove them.
* We are not held responsible if we wrongly determine materials are infringing
* A copyright owner may obtain a subpoena asking us to identify to them an 'alleged infringer' for purposes (only) of 'protecting rights under' the DMCA. (Which we must comply with)
* We must have a DMCA policy, and must 'inform' 'subscribers and account holders' of it, which must
** Provide for the termination of users who are repeat offenders.
** in accordance with 'standard technical means' used by copyright holders provided they 'do not impose substantial costs' on us.

Most of the provisions of the law are very clear and precise.

There are, however, a few areas somewhat open to interpretation, or whose meaning is somewhat unclear. Our interpretation of those items is covered below.

The last bullet point above referring to 'standard technical means' we are interpreting as the use of automated systems tied to copyright holders systems, such as used by very large service providers such as Google to automate the takedown process, to save staff time. Our system is so small and the expected frequency of violations so low that such a system would be an absurdity, and well beyond our technical and financial means in any case.

The necessity of terminating a users account access is also expected to be extremely low and will be dealt with on a case by case basis, the final decision will be made by current staff.

Our DMCA policy is this page on our public wiki.

The interpretation of the word 'expeditiously' in reference to how soon we remove alleged infringing materials is somehwat hazy. The courts have not yet clarified this, so we are relying on the analysis provided on this Wikipedia page at [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#Meaning_of_.22expeditious.22]

Since Wikipedia pages may change from time to time, I quote the relevant paragraph here:
<blockquote>
Meaning of "expeditious"

The law provides for “expeditious” action. The meaning of "expeditious" in the context of this law has not yet been determined by the courts. Black's Law Dictionary defines "expeditious" as "performed with, or acting with, expedition; quick; speedy." In the common law, the term "expeditious" has been interpreted according to the circumstances, allowing more time than "immediate" but not undue delay. Some suggest that the most prudent courses are to comply "immediately" or to seek immediate legal advice from qualified legal counsel. In the commercial online world, taking more than 24 hours may well be viewed as undue delay. However, when legal advice is factored into the equation it is reasonable to give counsel time to review all the facts, verify the necessary elements of the notice and conduct minimal research to ascertain the current state of the law. This may reasonably occur when the material posted appears likely to be covered by a fair use, for fair use is not copyright infringement. So, in some situations it may be reasonable to determine that "expeditious" would take more than 24 hours, and if the ISP was a small not-for-profit provider, or a server run by volunteers, it may not have the resources to obtain a legal opinion with the same speed that a large multinational corporation may have resources at its disposal to comply immediately. There may not even be a person immediately available who is qualified to determine if the notice complies with the standards set forth in the act. Perhaps a reasonable court would take these factors into consideration. The courts in the United States have yet to rule on these issues.

For a commercially run on-line provider taking action within the hour to tell a customer that a takedown notice has been received and informing them that they must immediately remove the content and confirm removal, giving them six to twelve hours to comply; and otherwise informing them that the content will be taken down or their Internet connection terminated, may be considered reasonable. Some courts may find this to be too great a burden on an ISP if it receives a large number of communications at the same time or has limited resources to review § 512 notices for substantial compliance. It may also depend on how the notice is sent. If the notice is sent via regular mail or via fax, there may be a lag between the sending of the notice and its reception by those who are able to act upon it. If the notification is received by a mail delivery on a Saturday when the ISPs offices are closed and not acted upon until Monday, that may be considered reasonable.
</blockquote>

Our interpretation of this is somewhat affected by our specific circumstances, which we believe might be reasonably taken into account. The most significant factor affecting this is that our site is a leisure time activity, and in many cases users may only be able to be contacted by us on weekends, or whenever their leisure time brings them to a condition that they read email or internal messages sent to them.

In the case of recieving an actual DMCA notice, the safest time period seems to be somewhere around 24 hours. For purposes of our policy we have therefore used that. It is very ikely however that it could take us longer to establish contact.

In the instances where no DMCA notice has been received we have used a somewhat longer time period, which takes into account something closer to the time frames we actually expect that will be required to contact a user.

In the case of anonymous users, we really have no means at all to contact them, and do not store any information that could even identify them. In that case it is most practical to simply remove suspected material as soon as discovered and time permits.

=== Reference Materials ===

* [http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf Direct link to a pdf of the DMCA] - The safe harbor provisions are in TITLE II—ONLINE COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT LIABILITY LIMITATION (skip down page)
* [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/s_agents.html Link to US Copyright Office] - List of registered DMCA Agents
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA DMCA] - General article on DMCA at Wikipedia
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#Meaning_of_.22expeditious.22 Expeditious] - Link to Wikipedia article on the Safe Harbor provisions and interpretation of 'expeditious'.

DMCACompliance

2015-09-29T15:16:15Z

AudioGuy:

Parent: [[SoylentNews Site Policy]]

== Soylent News Policy In Compliance With The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) ==

[http://mediawiki.org MediaWiki]

=== Preface ===

As a corporation established in the United States, Soylent News PBC is subject to US law. This includes the DMCA, whose provisions govern how we must handle content posted publicly by our users that is known to be, or suspected to be, in violation of a US copyright held by another entity.

In order to take advantage of what is called the 'Safe Harbor' provisions of the DMCA, which limit monetary damages to us in case one of our users posts copyrighted material, we have followed the provisions of that law and registered the required information with the copyright office. A copy of that registration and the contact information it contains (our 'designated DMCA Agent') may be found on the [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/s_agents.html US Copyright Office site] [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/agents/s/soylent-news.pdf here (pdf)].

The next section describes how we will handle such cases. For a deeper understanding of why we have found it necessary to adopt these policies, please read the section below titled [[#Rationale]].

=== User Policy ===

There are two slightly different situations where action is required by the DMCA in regards to possible copyright violations which come to our attention.

==== 1. We receive a formal DMCA Notice ====

'''In this case our actions are almost completely dictated by the law itself.'''

# If you are a registered user
## We will try to contact you through the email address you are registered under and ask you to remove the material
## If this is not done within 24 hours of when we receive the DMCA notice, we will remove the material ourselves, using any expedient means, which may include a direct database edit, resetting the password on your account so we can edit it and sending you a password reset email, or other means as required.
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to a formal DMCA request.
# If you are not a registered user
## We will remove the material as soon as is practically possible, and leave in its place a note indicating material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to a formal DMCA request.
# In the event of a dispute, the user is required by law to follow the formal DMCA provisions and file a DMCA compliant 'Counter Notification'
# The form of a counter notification is described below, as directly quoted from the law.
** (3) CONTENTS OF COUNTER NOTIFICATION.—To be effective under this subsection, a counter notification must be a written communication provided to the service provider’s designated agent that includes substantially the following:
*** (A) A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber.
*** (B) Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.
*** (C) A statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.
*** (D) The subscriber’s name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriber’s address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.
# In the event a properly written counter notification is received, staff will evaluate it on its merits and decide whether to restore the material, (no sooner than 10 days nor later than 14 days as required by law) and send a copy to the entity which filed the DMCA complaint (as required by law) OR, to not restore it.
# Please understand that the next step in the event of a restoration is likely a legal case brought by the DMCA filer. Due to our '''extremely limited means''', we are likely to take a very cautious approach at such times, and are specifically protected in this by the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA itself.

==== 2. A possible copyright violation is brought to our attention by any other means ====

In this case we have somewhat more flexibility. We are not required to actively seek knowledge of copyright violations by our users, and do not have any practical technical means to do so. However, the law does require that if we become '''aware of facts or circumstances from which infringing activity is apparent''' we must act '''expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material'''.

In this case:

# If you are a registered user
## We will try to contact you through the email address you are registered under and ask you to remove the material, establish that it is a clear 'fair use' of the material, that it is in fact not in copyright, or that you hold the copyright.
## No more than 7 days will be allowed for a reply.
## If no reply is received within several days, we MAY but are not required to, try to contact you through other means such as a comment left on your journal or in the main site comments.
## After receipt of your reply, or no later than 7 days if attempts to contact you or receive a reply have been unsuccessful, staff will evaluate the likelihood that the material is infringing, and either decide it is likely not, or remove the material ourselves, using any expedient means, which may include a direct database edit, resetting the password on your account so we can edit it and sending you a password reset email, or by other means as required.
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to staff concerns.

# If you are not a registered user
## Staff will do its best to evaluate whether the material is likely to be infringing, based upon available information, within 72 hours.
## If the material is considered likely infringing, it will be removed using any expedient means,
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to staff concerns.

=== Some Things Our Users Need To Be Aware Of ===

* It is not always obvious, but just about everything submitted to our site (with the exception of some user information, and articles submitted but not yet edited) is completely public and can be found by the searches of copyright holders looking to enforce their copyrights. So please be careful. '''If in doubt, leave it out.'''
* We are not required by law to actively seek out copyright enfringement. We do not do so, and have no practical technical means to do so. However if we become aware of a possible copyright infringement, we are '''required by law''' - with or without an actual formal DMCA notice - to investigate it, in order to maintain our safe harbor status.
* It is '''very''' important that we can contact you should there be a problem, or potential problem. In the event of an actual DMCA notice we have a relatively short time to respond (read the time limits above). Please make sure the email address you are registered under is current, and is actually monitored. There may well be edge cases when some input from you would be invaluable, but we cannot hear it if we cannot contact you within the time frames mentioned above.
* In view of our circumstances, we must take a very straightforward reading of the law, and cannot afford to dispute edge cases. This is quite likely to be unfair at times. Please understand our position. The law is rather heavily weighted toward the copyright holders. There is nothing we can do about that at present.

=== Rationale ===

We (Soylent News, PBC) are an entirely volunteer run operation with no paid staff. Members of our community volunteer to edit articles and perform other duties. Our only expenses are those needed to provide servers and access and pay minimal taxes and bookeeping expenses related to our status as a PBC. These, in total, amount to only a few thousand dollars per year.

Our only source of income is voluntary contributions from our users. While they have been generous, their numbers are small.

In view of this, it is clear there is no practical way for us to fund the level of legal expenses required for legal challenges related to copyright issues, or any other serious legal challenges.

Our primary operation is as a user forum where our community can submit articles and freely comment on them. A particular feature of our system, modified from one created in the 1990s by another entity, is that we do not delete or otherwise modify user submitted comments, instead using a moderation system that allows users to assign numeric scores to submitted comments. This was adopted to allow a high level of free speech while still allowing users to be selective in the quality of comments they read.

Due to this somewhat unusual system, there are no easily accessible means to remove or delete user input to the extent of completely removing it, in the hands of staff. Users do have the ability to edit and remove their own comments. But staff must use somewhat awkward means such as direct database edits, since the system as originated was designed specifically to NOT encourage this.

Our most straightforward approach to completely removing user submitted materials is to ask the user to remove it.

The DMCA puts us in an awkward position because of the situation described above. Prior to the passage of the DMCA, we relied for our protection on the idea, by law and common usage going back centuries if not millenia, that entities which provide services for all, freely and indiscriminately, are 'common carriers' and cannot be held responsible for individual acts of the people they serve. In plain language, this means that if someome robs you and escapes in a Ford automobile, the manufacturer or seller of that automobile cannot be held legally responsible for the actions of the robber.

The DMCA violates this long held principle for specific uses. It has been strongly criticised for this. However, despite the controversy surrounding it, it is at present the law of the land in the United States and since we are incorporated in the United States we must comply with it.

In view of this, several staff have gone through the law to determine exactly how it affected us and what our responsibilities are. The approach taken is that, again in view of our limited means, we must strive for the most straighforward, plain interpretation of what is written and avoid attempting to second guess possible future legal challeges to the law, or interpreting language in ways that might be more favorable to our circumstances but require 'alternate' interpretations other than the most obvious one.

The most signficant item coming out of our read of the law is that there is what is called a 'safe harbor' provision in it. This provision very specfically exempts entities who follow some strict requirements in the law from legal responsibility for the actions of their users, including:

* Monetary damages resulting from copyright violations
* Monetary relief includes 'damages, costs, attorneys fees, and any other form of monetary payment'
* Damages that might result from a disputed or mistaken interpretation of whether material is infringing
* Various other situations where damages might otherwise result

This 'safe harbor' provision was determined to be very desirable for us to qualify for, in view of our circumstances.

To qualify, there are a number of conditions that must be met, notably including (with some others):

* A *Designated Agent* for to receive DMCA notices must be created
* Specific information about that agent must be filed with the US Copyright Office which makes it publicly available
* We must act 'expeditiously' to remove suspected infringing material upon receipt of a DMCA notice
* The user must be notified and has the opportunity to file a counter notice. Upon receipt we can restore the material in not less than 10 days nor more than 14 days after receipt of the notice
* If we receive a counter notice, we must provide a copy to the entitity who filed the DMCA notice
* Both DMCA notices and counter notices must follow a specific format outlined in the DMCA
* We are not held responsible for any infringing materials our users submit we are unaware of, but
* If we are made aware, by any means, of such materials, or suspected materials, even in the absence of a formal notice, we must act 'expeditiously' to remove them.
* We are not held responsible if we wrongly determine materials are infringing
* A copyright owner may obtain a subpoena asking us to identify to them an 'alleged infringer' for purposes (only) of 'protecting rights under' the DMCA. (Which we must comply with)
* We must have a DMCA policy, and must 'inform' 'subscribers and account holders' of it, which must
** Provide for the termination of users who are repeat offenders.
** in accordance with 'standard technical means' used by copyright holders provided they 'do not impose substantial costs' on us.

Most of the provisions of the law are very clear and precise.

There are, however, a few areas somewhat open to interpretation, or whose meaning is somewhat unclear. Our interpretation of those items is covered below.

The last bullet point above referring to 'standard technical means' we are interpreting as the use of automated systems tied to copyright holders systems, such as used by very large service providers such as Google to automate the takedown process, to save staff time. Our system is so small and the expected frequency of violations so low that such a system would be an absurdity, and well beyond our technical and financial means in any case.

The necessity of terminating a users account access is also expected to be extremely low and will be dealt with on a case by case basis, the final decision will be made by current staff.

Our DMCA policy is this page on our public wiki.

The interpretation of the word 'expeditiously' in reference to how soon we remove alleged infringing materials is somehwat hazy. The courts have not yet clarified this, so we are relying on the analysis provided on this Wikipedia page at [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#Meaning_of_.22expeditious.22]

Since Wikipedia pages may change from time to time, I quote the relevant paragraph here:
<blockquote>
Meaning of "expeditious"

The law provides for “expeditious” action. The meaning of "expeditious" in the context of this law has not yet been determined by the courts. Black's Law Dictionary defines "expeditious" as "performed with, or acting with, expedition; quick; speedy." In the common law, the term "expeditious" has been interpreted according to the circumstances, allowing more time than "immediate" but not undue delay. Some suggest that the most prudent courses are to comply "immediately" or to seek immediate legal advice from qualified legal counsel. In the commercial online world, taking more than 24 hours may well be viewed as undue delay. However, when legal advice is factored into the equation it is reasonable to give counsel time to review all the facts, verify the necessary elements of the notice and conduct minimal research to ascertain the current state of the law. This may reasonably occur when the material posted appears likely to be covered by a fair use, for fair use is not copyright infringement. So, in some situations it may be reasonable to determine that "expeditious" would take more than 24 hours, and if the ISP was a small not-for-profit provider, or a server run by volunteers, it may not have the resources to obtain a legal opinion with the same speed that a large multinational corporation may have resources at its disposal to comply immediately. There may not even be a person immediately available who is qualified to determine if the notice complies with the standards set forth in the act. Perhaps a reasonable court would take these factors into consideration. The courts in the United States have yet to rule on these issues.

For a commercially run on-line provider taking action within the hour to tell a customer that a takedown notice has been received and informing them that they must immediately remove the content and confirm removal, giving them six to twelve hours to comply; and otherwise informing them that the content will be taken down or their Internet connection terminated, may be considered reasonable. Some courts may find this to be too great a burden on an ISP if it receives a large number of communications at the same time or has limited resources to review § 512 notices for substantial compliance. It may also depend on how the notice is sent. If the notice is sent via regular mail or via fax, there may be a lag between the sending of the notice and its reception by those who are able to act upon it. If the notification is received by a mail delivery on a Saturday when the ISPs offices are closed and not acted upon until Monday, that may be considered reasonable.
</blockquote>

Our interpretation of this is somewhat affected by our specific circumstances, which we believe might be reasonably taken into account. The most significant factor affecting this is that our site is a leisure time activity, and in many cases users may only be able to be contacted by us on weekends, or whenever their leisure time brings them to a condition that they read email or internal messages sent to them.

In the case of recieving an actual DMCA notice, the safest time period seems to be somewhere around 24 hours. For purposes of our policy we have therefore used that. It is very ikely however that it could take us longer to establish contact.

In the instances where no DMCA notice has been received we have used a somewhat longer time period, which takes into account something closer to the time frames we actually expect that will be required to contact a user.

In the case of anonymous users, we really have no means at all to contact them, and do not store any information that could even identify them. In that case it is most practical to simply remove suspected material as soon as discovered and time permits.

=== Reference Materials ===

* [http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf Direct link to a pdf of the DMCA] - The safe harbor provisions are in TITLE II—ONLINE COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT LIABILITY LIMITATION (skip down page)
* [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/s_agents.html Link to US Copyright Office] - List of registered DMCA Agents
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA DMCA] - General article on DMCA at Wikipedia
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#Meaning_of_.22expeditious.22 Expeditious] - Link to Wikipedia article on the Safe Harbor provisions and interpretation of 'expeditious'.

DMCACompliance

2015-09-29T15:03:19Z

AudioGuy:

Parent: [[SoylentNews Site Policy]]

== Soylent News Policy In Compliance With The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) ==

[http://mediawiki.org MediaWiki]

=== Preface ===

As a corporation established in the United States, Soylent News PBC is subject to US law. This includes the DMCA, whose provisions govern how we must handle content posted publicly by our users that is known to be, or suspected to be, in violation of a US copyright held by another entity.

In order to take advantage of what is called the 'Safe Harbor' provisions of the DMCA, which limit monetary damages to us in case one of our users posts copyrighted material, we have followed the provisions of that law and registered the required information with the copyright office. A copy of that registration and the contact information it contains (our 'designated DMCA Agent') may be found on the [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/s_agents.html US Copyright Office site] [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/agents/s/soylent-news.pdf here (pdf)].

The next section describes how we will handle such cases. For a deeper understanding of why we have found it necessary to adopt these policies, please read the section below titled [[#Rationale]].

=== User Policy ===

There are two slightly different situations where action is required by the DMCA in regards to possible copyright violations which come to our attention.

==== 1. We receive a formal DMCA Notice ====

'''In this case our actions are almost completely dictated by the law itself.'''

# If you are a registered user
## We will try to contact you through the email address you are registered under and ask you to remove the material
## If this is not done within 24 hours of when we receive the DMCA notice, we will remove the material ourselves, using any expedient means, which may include a direct database edit, resetting the password on your account so we can edit it and sending you a password reset email, or other means as required.
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to a formal DMCA request.
# If you are not a registered user
## We will remove the material as soon as is practically possible, and leave in its place a note indicating material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to a formal DMCA request.
# In the event of a dispute, the user is required by law to follow the formal DMCA provisions and file a DMCA compliant 'Counter Notification'
# The form of a counter notification is described below, as directly quoted from the law.
** (3) CONTENTS OF COUNTER NOTIFICATION.—To be effective under this subsection, a counter notification must be a written communication provided to the service provider’s designated agent that includes substantially the following:
*** (A) A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber.
*** (B) Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.
*** (C) A statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.
*** (D) The subscriber’s name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriber’s address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.
# In the event a properly written counter notification is received, staff will evaluate it on its merits and decide whether to restore the material, (no sooner than 10 days nor later than 14 days as required by law) and send a copy to the entity which filed the DMCA complaint (as required by law) OR, to not restore it.
# Please understand that the next step in the event of a restoration is likely a legal case brought by the DMCA filer. Due to our '''extremely limited means''', we are likely to take a very cautious approach at such times, and are specifically protected in this by the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA itself.

==== 2. A possible copyright violation is brought to our attention by any other means ====

In this case we have somewhat more flexibility. We are not required to actively seek knowledge of copyright violations by our users, and do not have any practical technical means to do so. However, the law does require that if we become '''aware of facts or circumstances from which infringing activity is apparent''' we must act '''expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material'''.

In this case:

# If you are a registered user
## We will try to contact you through the email address you are registered under and ask you to remove the material, establish that it is a clear 'fair use' of the material, that it is in fact not in copyright, or that you hold the copyright.
## No more than 7 days will be allowed for a reply.
## If no reply is received within several days, we MAY but are not required to, try to contact you through other means such as a comment left on your journal or in the main site comments.
## After receipt of your reply, or no later than 7 days if attempts to contact you or receive a reply have been unsuccessful, staff will evaluate the likelihood that the material is infringing, and either decide it is likely not, or remove the material ourselves, using any expedient means, which may include a direct database edit, resetting the password on your account so we can edit it and sending you a password reset email, or by other means as required.
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to staff concerns.

# If you are not a registered user
## Staff will do its best to evaluate whether the material is likely to be infringing, based upon available information, within 72 hours.
## If the material is considered likely infringing, it will be removed using any expedient means,
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to staff concerns.

=== Some Things Our Users Need To Be Aware Of ===

* It is not always obvious, but just about everything submitted to our site (with the exception of some user information, and articles submitted but not yet edited) is completely public and can be found by the searches of copyright holders looking to enforce their copyrights. So please be careful. '''If in doubt, leave it out.'''
* We are not required by law to actively seek out copyright enfringement. We do not do so, and have no practical technical means to do so. However if we become aware of a possible copyright infringement, we are '''required by law''' - with or without an actual formal DMCA notice - to investigate it, in order to maintain our safe harbor status.
* It is '''very''' important that we can contact you should there be a problem, or potential problem. In the event of an actual DMCA notice we have a relatively short time to respond (read the time limits above). Please make sure the email address you are registered under is current, and is actually monitored. There may well be edge cases when some input from you would be invaluable, but we cannot hear it if we cannot contact you within the time frames mentioned above.
* In view of our circumstances, we must take a very straightforward reading of the law, and cannot afford to dispute edge cases. This is quite likely to be unfair at times. Please understand our position. The law is rather heavily weighted toward the copyright holders. There is nothing we can do about that at present.

=== Rationale ===

We (Soylent News, PBC) are an entirely volunteer run operation with no paid staff. Members of our community volunteer to edit articles and perform other duties. Our only expenses are those needed to provide servers and access and pay minimal taxes and bookeeping expenses related to our status as a PBC. These, in total, amount to only a few thousand dollars per year.

Our only source of income is voluntary contributions from our users. While they have been generous, their numbers are small.

In view of this, it is clear there is no practical way for us to fund the level of legal expenses required for legal challenges related to copyright issues, or any other serious legal challenges.

Our primary operation is as a user forum where our community can submit articles and freely comment on them. A particular feature of our system, modified from one created in the 1990s by another entity, is that we do not delete or otherwise modify user submitted comments, instead using a moderation system that allows users to assign numeric scores to submitted comments. This was adopted to allow a high level of free speech while still allowing users to be selective in the quality of comments they read.

Due to this somewhat unusual system, there are no easily accessible means to remove or delete user input to the extent of completely removing it, in the hands of staff. Users do have the ability to edit and remove their own comments. But staff must use somewhat awkward means such as direct database edits, since the system as originated was designed specifically to NOT encourage this.

Our most straightforward approach to completely removing user submitted materials is to ask the user to remove it.

The DMCA puts us in an awkward position because of the situation described above. Prior to the passage of the DMCA, we relied for our protection on the idea, by law and common usage going back centuries if not millenia, that entities which provide services for all, freely and indiscriminately, are 'common carriers' and cannot be held responsible for individual acts of the people they serve. In plain language, this means that if someome robs you and escapes in a Ford automobile, the manufacturer or seller of that automobile cannot be held legally responsible for the actions of the robber.

The DMCA violates this long held principle for specific uses. It has been strongly criticised for this. However, despite the controversy surrounding it, it is at present the law of the land in the United States and since we are incorporated in the United States we must comply with it.

In view of this, several staff have gone through the law to determine exactly how it affected us and what our responsibilities are. The approach taken is that, again in view of our limited means, we must strive for the most straighforward, plain interpretation of what is written and avoid attempting to second guess possible future legal challeges to the law, or interpreting language in ways that might be more favorable to our circumstances but require 'alternate' interpretations other than the most obvious one.

The most signficant item coming out of our read of the law is that there is what is called a 'safe harbor' provision in it. This provision very specfically exempts entities who follow some strict requirements in the law from legal responsibility for the actions of their users, including:

* Monetary damages resulting from copyright violations
* Monetary relief includes 'damages, costs, attorneys fees, and any other form of monetary payment'
* Damages that might result from a disputed or mistaken interpretation of whether material is infringing
* Various other situations where damages might otherwise result

This 'safe harbor' provision was determined to be very desirable for us to qualify for, in view of our circumstances.

To qualify, there are a number of conditions that must be met, notably including (with some others):

* A *Designated Agent* for to receive DMCA notices must be created
* Specific information about that agent must be filed with the US Copyright Office which makes it publicly available
* We must act 'expeditiously' to remove suspected infringing material upon receipt of a DMCA notice
* The user must be notified and has the opportunity to file a counter notice. Upon receipt we can restore the material in not less than 10 days nor more than 14 days after receipt of the notice
* If we receive a counter notice, we must provide a copy to the entitity who filed the DMCA notice
* Both DMCA notices and counter notices must follow a specific format outlined in the DMCA
* We are not held responsible for any infringing materials our users submit we are unaware of, but
* If we are made aware, by any means, of such materials, or suspected materials, even in the absence of a formal notice, we must act 'expeditiously' to remove them.
* We are not held responsible if we wrongly determine materials are infringing
* A copyright owner may obtain a subpoena asking us to identify to them an 'alleged infringer' for purposes (only) of 'protecting rights under' the DMCA. (Which we must comply with)
* We must have a DMCA policy, and must 'inform' 'subscribers and account holders' of it, which must
** Provide for the termination of users who are repeat offenders.
** in accordance with 'standard technical means' used by copyright holders provided they 'do not impose substantial costs' on us.

Most of the provisions of the law are very clear and precise.

There are, however, a few areas somewhat open to interpretation, or whose meaning is somewhat unclear. Our interpretation of those items is covered below.

The last bullet point above referring to 'standard technical means' we are interpreting as the use of automated systems tied to copyright holders systems, such as used by very large service providers such as Google to automate the takedown process, to save staff time. Our system is so small and the expected frequency of violations so low that such a system would be an absurdity, and well beyond our technical and financial means in any case.

The necessity of terminating a users account access is also expected to be extremely low and will be dealt with on a case by case basis, the final decision will be made by current staff.

Our DMCA policy is this page on our public wiki.

The interpretation of the word 'expeditiously' in reference to how soon we remove alleged infringing materials is somehwat hazy. The courts have not yet clarified this, so we are relying on the analysis provided on this Wikipedia page at [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#Meaning_of_.22expeditious.22]

Since Wikipedia pages may change from time to time, I quote the relevant paragraph here:
<blockquote>
Meaning of "expeditious"

The law provides for “expeditious” action. The meaning of "expeditious" in the context of this law has not yet been determined by the courts. Black's Law Dictionary defines "expeditious" as "performed with, or acting with, expedition; quick; speedy." In the common law, the term "expeditious" has been interpreted according to the circumstances, allowing more time than "immediate" but not undue delay. Some suggest that the most prudent courses are to comply "immediately" or to seek immediate legal advice from qualified legal counsel. In the commercial online world, taking more than 24 hours may well be viewed as undue delay. However, when legal advice is factored into the equation it is reasonable to give counsel time to review all the facts, verify the necessary elements of the notice and conduct minimal research to ascertain the current state of the law. This may reasonably occur when the material posted appears likely to be covered by a fair use, for fair use is not copyright infringement. So, in some situations it may be reasonable to determine that "expeditious" would take more than 24 hours, and if the ISP was a small not-for-profit provider, or a server run by volunteers, it may not have the resources to obtain a legal opinion with the same speed that a large multinational corporation may have resources at its disposal to comply immediately. There may not even be a person immediately available who is qualified to determine if the notice complies with the standards set forth in the act. Perhaps a reasonable court would take these factors into consideration. The courts in the United States have yet to rule on these issues.

For a commercially run on-line provider taking action within the hour to tell a customer that a takedown notice has been received and informing them that they must immediately remove the content and confirm removal, giving them six to twelve hours to comply; and otherwise informing them that the content will be taken down or their Internet connection terminated, may be considered reasonable. Some courts may find this to be too great a burden on an ISP if it receives a large number of communications at the same time or has limited resources to review § 512 notices for substantial compliance. It may also depend on how the notice is sent. If the notice is sent via regular mail or via fax, there may be a lag between the sending of the notice and its reception by those who are able to act upon it. If the notification is received by a mail delivery on a Saturday when the ISPs offices are closed and not acted upon until Monday, that may be considered reasonable.
</blockquote>

=== Reference Materials ===

* [http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf Direct link to a pdf of the DMCA] - The safe harbor provisions are in TITLE II—ONLINE COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT LIABILITY LIMITATION (skip down page)
* [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/s_agents.html Link to US Copyright Office] - List of registered DMCA Agents
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA DMCA] - General article on DMCA at Wikipedia
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#Meaning_of_.22expeditious.22 Expeditious] - Link to Wikipedia article on the Safe Harbor provisions and interpretation of 'expeditious'.

DMCACompliance

2015-09-29T14:54:57Z

AudioGuy:

Parent: [[SoylentNews Site Policy]]

== Soylent News Policy In Compliance With The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) ==

[http://mediawiki.org MediaWiki]

=== Preface ===

As a corporation established in the United States, Soylent News PBC is subject to US law. This includes the DMCA, whose provisions govern how we must handle content posted publicly by our users that is known to be, or suspected to be, in violation of a US copyright held by another entity.

In order to take advantage of what is called the 'Safe Harbor' provisions of the DMCA, which limit monetary damages to us in case one of our users posts copyrighted material, we have followed the provisions of that law and registered the required information with the copyright office. A copy of that registration and the contact information it contains (our 'designated DMCA Agent') may be found on the [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/s_agents.html US Copyright Office site] [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/agents/s/soylent-news.pdf here (pdf)].

The next section describes how we will handle such cases. For a deeper understanding of why we have found it necessary to adopt these policies, please read the section below titled [[#Rationale]].

=== User Policy ===

There are two slightly different situations where action is required by the DMCA in regards to possible copyright violations which come to our attention.

==== 1. We receive a formal DMCA Notice ====

'''In this case our actions are almost completely dictated by the law itself.'''

# If you are a registered user
## We will try to contact you through the email address you are registered under and ask you to remove the material
## If this is not done within 24 hours of when we receive the DMCA notice, we will remove the material ourselves, using any expedient means, which may include a direct database edit, resetting the password on your account so we can edit it and sending you a password reset email, or other means as required.
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to a formal DMCA request.
# If you are not a registered user
## We will remove the material as soon as is practically possible, and leave in its place a note indicating material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to a formal DMCA request.
# In the event of a dispute, the user is required by law to follow the formal DMCA provisions and file a DMCA compliant 'Counter Notification'
# The form of a counter notification is described below, as directly quoted from the law.
** (3) CONTENTS OF COUNTER NOTIFICATION.—To be effective under this subsection, a counter notification must be a written communication provided to the service provider’s designated agent that includes substantially the following:
*** (A) A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber.
*** (B) Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.
*** (C) A statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.
*** (D) The subscriber’s name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriber’s address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.
# In the event a properly written counter notification is received, staff will evaluate it on its merits and decide whether to restore the material, (no sooner than 10 days nor later than 14 days as required by law) and send a copy to the entity which filed the DMCA complaint (as required by law) OR, to not restore it.
# Please understand that the next step in the event of a restoration is likely a legal case brought by the DMCA filer. Due to our '''extremely limited means''', we are likely to take a very cautious approach at such times, and are specifically protected in this by the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA itself.

==== 2. A possible copyright violation is brought to our attention by any other means ====

In this case we have somewhat more flexibility. We are not required to actively seek knowledge of copyright violations by our users, and do not have any practical technical means to do so. However, the law does require that if we become '''aware of facts or circumstances from which infringing activity is apparent''' we must act '''expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material'''.

In this case:

# If you are a registered user
## We will try to contact you through the email address you are registered under and ask you to remove the material, establish that it is a clear 'fair use' of the material, that it is in fact not in copyright, or that you hold the copyright.
## No more than 7 days will be allowed for a reply.
## If no reply is received within several days, we MAY but are not required to, try to contact you through other means such as a comment left on your journal or in the main site comments.
## After receipt of your reply, or no later than 7 days if attempts to contact you or receive a reply have been unsuccessful, staff will evaluate the likelihood that the material is infringing, and either decide it is likely not, or remove the material ourselves, using any expedient means, which may include a direct database edit, resetting the password on your account so we can edit it and sending you a password reset email, or by other means as required.
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to staff concerns.

# If you are not a registered user
## Staff will do its best to evaluate whether the material is likely to be infringing, based upon available information, within 72 hours.
## If the material is considered likely infringing, it will be removed using any expedient means,
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to staff concerns.

=== Some Things Our Users Need To Be Aware Of ===

* It is not always obvious, but just about everything submitted to our site (with the exception of some user information, and articles submitted but not yet edited) is completely public and can be found by the searches of copyright holders looking to enforce their copyrights. So please be careful. '''If in doubt, leave it out.'''
* We are not required by law to actively seek out copyright enfringement. We do not do so, and have no practical technical means to do so. However if we become aware of a possible copyright infringement, we are '''required by law''' - with or without an actual formal DMCA notice - to investigate it, in order to maintain our safe harbor status.
* It is '''very''' important that we can contact you should there be a problem, or potential problem. In the event of an actual DMCA notice we have a relatively short time to respond (read the time limits above). Please make sure the email address you are registered under is current, and is actually monitored. There may well be edge cases when some input from you would be invaluable, but we cannot hear it if we cannot contact you within the time frames mentioned above.
* In view of our circumstances, we must take a very straightforward reading of the law, and cannot afford to dispute edge cases. This is quite likely to be unfair at times. Please understand our position. The law is rather heavily weighted toward the copyright holders. There is nothing we can do about that at present.

=== Rationale ===

We (Soylent News, PBC) are an entirely volunteer run operation with no paid staff. Members of our community volunteer to edit articles and perform other duties. Our only expenses are those needed to provide servers and access and pay minimal taxes and bookeeping expenses related to our status as a PBC. These, in total, amount to only a few thousand dollars per year.

Our only source of income is voluntary contributions from our users. While they have been generous, their numbers are small.

In view of this, it is clear there is no practical way for us to fund the level of legal expenses required for legal challenges related to copyright issues, or any other serious legal challenges.

Our primary operation is as a user forum where our community can submit articles and freely comment on them. A particular feature of our system, modified from one created in the 1990s by another entity, is that we do not delete or otherwise modify user submitted comments, instead using a moderation system that allows users to assign numeric scores to submitted comments. This was adopted to allow a high level of free speech while still allowing users to be selective in the quality of comments they read.

Due to this somewhat unusual system, there are no easily accessible means to remove or delete user input to the extent of completely removing it, in the hands of staff. Users do have the ability to edit and remove their own comments. But staff must use somewhat awkward means such as direct database edits, since the system as originated was designed specifically to NOT encourage this.

Our most straightforward approach to completely removing user submitted materials is to ask the user to remove it.

The DMCA puts us in an awkward position because of the situation described above. Prior to the passage of the DMCA, we relied for our protection on the idea, by law and common usage going back centuries if not millenia, that entities which provide services for all, freely and indiscriminately, are 'common carriers' and cannot be held responsible for individual acts of the people they serve. In plain language, this means that if someome robs you and escapes in a Ford automobile, the manufacturer or seller of that automobile cannot be held legally responsible for the actions of the robber.

The DMCA violates this long held principle for specific uses. It has been strongly criticised for this. However, despite the controversy surrounding it, it is at present the law of the land in the United States and since we are incorporated in the United States we must comply with it.

In view of this, several staff have gone through the law to determine exactly how it affected us and what our responsibilities are. The approach taken is that, again in view of our limited means, we must strive for the most straighforward, plain interpretation of what is written and avoid attempting to second guess possible future legal challeges to the law, or interpreting language in ways that might be more favorable to our circumstances but require 'alternate' interpretations other than the most obvious one.

The most signficant item coming out of our read of the law is that there is what is called a 'safe harbor' provision in it. This provision very specfically exempts entities who follow some strict requirements in the law from legal responsibility for the actions of their users, including:

* Monetary damages resulting from copyright violations
* Monetary relief includes 'damages, costs, attorneys fees, and any other form of monetary payment'
* Damages that might result from a disputed or mistaken interpretation of whether material is infringing
* Various other situations where damages might otherwise result

This 'safe harbor' provision was determined to be very desirable for us to qualify for, in view of our circumstances.

To qualify, there are a number of conditions that must be met, notably including (with some others):

* A *Designated Agent* for to receive DMCA notices must be created
* Specific information about that agent must be filed with the US Copyright Office which makes it publicly available
* We must act 'expeditiously' to remove suspected infringing material upon receipt of a DMCA notice
* The user must be notified and has the opportunity to file a counter notice. Upon receipt we can restore the material in not less than 10 days nor more than 14 days after receipt of the notice
* If we receive a counter notice, we must provide a copy to the entitity who filed the DMCA notice
* Both DMCA notices and counter notices must follow a specific format outlined in the DMCA
* We are not held responsible for any infringing materials our users submit we are unaware of, but
* If we are made aware, by any means, of such materials, or suspected materials, even in the absence of a formal notice, we must act 'expeditiously' to remove them.
* We are not held responsible if we wrongly determine materials are infringing
* A copyright owner may obtain a subpoena asking us to identify to them an 'alleged infringer' for purposes (only) of 'protecting rights under' the DMCA. (Which we must comply with)
* We must have a DMCA policy, and must 'inform' 'subscribers and account holders' of it, which must
** Provide for the termination of users who are repeat offenders.
** in accordance with 'standard technical means' used by copyright holders provided they 'do not impose substantial costs' on us.

Most of the provisions of the law are very clear and precise.

There are, however, a few areas somewhat open to interpretation, or whose meaning is somewhat unclear. Our interpretation of those items is covered below.

The last bullet point above referring to 'standard technical means' we are interpreting as the use of automated systems tied to copyright holders systems, such as used by very large service providers such as Google to automate the takedown process, to save staff time. Our system is so small and the expected frequency of violations so low that such a system would be an absurdity, and well beyond our technical and financial means in any case.

The necessity of terminating a users account access is also expected to be extremely low and will be dealt with on a case by case basis, the final decision will be made by current staff.

Our DMCA policy is this page on our public wiki.

The interpretation of the word 'expeditiously' in reference to how soon we remove alleged infringing materials is somehwat hazy.

=== Reference Materials ===

* [http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf Direct link to a pdf of the DMCA] - The safe harbor provisions are in TITLE II—ONLINE COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT LIABILITY LIMITATION (skip down page)
* [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/s_agents.html Link to US Copyright Office] - List of registered DMCA Agents
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA DMCA] - General article on DMCA at Wikipedia
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#Meaning_of_.22expeditious.22 Expeditious] - Link to Wikipedia article on the Safe Harbor provisions and interpretation of 'expeditious'.

DMCACompliance

2015-09-29T14:41:51Z

AudioGuy:

Parent: [[SoylentNews Site Policy]]

== Soylent News Policy In Compliance With The Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) ==

[http://mediawiki.org MediaWiki]

=== Preface ===

As a corporation established in the United States, Soylent News PBC is subject to US law. This includes the DMCA, whose provisions govern how we must handle content posted publicly by our users that is known to be, or suspected to be, in violation of a US copyright held by another entity.

In order to take advantage of what is called the 'Safe Harbor' provisions of the DMCA, which limit monetary damages to us in case one of our users posts copyrighted material, we have followed the provisions of that law and registered the required information with the copyright office. A copy of that registration and the contact information it contains (our 'designated DMCA Agent') may be found on the [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/s_agents.html US Copyright Office site] [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/agents/s/soylent-news.pdf here (pdf)].

The next section describes how we will handle such cases. For a deeper understanding of why we have found it necessary to adopt these policies, please read the section below titled [[#Rationale]].

=== User Policy ===

There are two slightly different situations where action is required by the DMCA in regards to possible copyright violations which come to our attention.

==== 1. We receive a formal DMCA Notice ====

'''In this case our actions are almost completely dictated by the law itself.'''

# If you are a registered user
## We will try to contact you through the email address you are registered under and ask you to remove the material
## If this is not done within 24 hours of when we receive the DMCA notice, we will remove the material ourselves, using any expedient means, which may include a direct database edit, resetting the password on your account so we can edit it and sending you a password reset email, or other means as required.
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to a formal DMCA request.
# If you are not a registered user
## We will remove the material as soon as is practically possible, and leave in its place a note indicating material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to a formal DMCA request.
# In the event of a dispute, the user is required by law to follow the formal DMCA provisions and file a DMCA compliant 'Counter Notification'
# The form of a counter notification is described below, as directly quoted from the law.
** (3) CONTENTS OF COUNTER NOTIFICATION.—To be effective under this subsection, a counter notification must be a written communication provided to the service provider’s designated agent that includes substantially the following:
*** (A) A physical or electronic signature of the subscriber.
*** (B) Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled.
*** (C) A statement under penalty of perjury that the subscriber has a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.
*** (D) The subscriber’s name, address, and telephone number, and a statement that the subscriber consents to the jurisdiction of Federal District Court for the judicial district in which the address is located, or if the subscriber’s address is outside of the United States, for any judicial district in which the service provider may be found, and that the subscriber will accept service of process from the person who provided notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) or an agent of such person.
# In the event a properly written counter notification is received, staff will evaluate it on its merits and decide whether to restore the material, (no sooner than 10 days nor later than 14 days as required by law) and send a copy to the entity which filed the DMCA complaint (as required by law) OR, to not restore it.
# Please understand that the next step in the event of a restoration is likely a legal case brought by the DMCA filer. Due to our '''extremely limited means''', we are likely to take a very cautious approach at such times, and are specifically protected in this by the safe harbor provisions of the DMCA itself.

==== 2. A possible copyright violation is brought to our attention by any other means ====

In this case we have somewhat more flexibility. We are not required to actively seek knowledge of copyright violations by our users, and do not have any practical technical means to do so. However, the law does require that if we become '''aware of facts or circumstances from which infringing activity is apparent''' we must act '''expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material'''.

In this case:

# If you are a registered user
## We will try to contact you through the email address you are registered under and ask you to remove the material, establish that it is a clear 'fair use' of the material, that it is in fact not in copyright, or that you hold the copyright.
## No more than 7 days will be allowed for a reply.
## If no reply is received within several days, we MAY but are not required to, try to contact you through other means such as a comment left on your journal or in the main site comments.
## After receipt of your reply, or no later than 7 days if attempts to contact you or receive a reply have been unsuccessful, staff will evaluate the likelihood that the material is infringing, and either decide it is likely not, or remove the material ourselves, using any expedient means, which may include a direct database edit, resetting the password on your account so we can edit it and sending you a password reset email, or by other means as required.
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to staff concerns.

# If you are not a registered user
## Staff will do its best to evaluate whether the material is likely to be infringing, based upon available information, within 72 hours.
## If the material is considered likely infringing, it will be removed using any expedient means,
## If appropriate, or needed as a place holder, the offending material will be replaced with a notice indicating that some material has been removed as a possible copyright violation, due to staff concerns.

=== Some Things Our Users Need To Be Aware Of ===

* It is not always obvious, but just about everything submitted to our site (with the exception of some user information, and articles submitted but not yet edited) is completely public and can be found by the searches of copyright holders looking to enforce their copyrights. So please be careful. '''If in doubt, leave it out.'''
* We are not required by law to actively seek out copyright enfringement. We do not do so, and have no practical technical means to do so. However if we become aware of a possible copyright infringement, we are '''required by law''' - with or without an actual formal DMCA notice - to investigate it, in order to maintain our safe harbor status.
* It is '''very''' important that we can contact you should there be a problem, or potential problem. In the event of an actual DMCA notice we have a relatively short time to respond (read the time limits above). Please make sure the email address you are registered under is current, and is actually monitored. There may well be edge cases when some input from you would be invaluable, but we cannot hear it if we cannot contact you within the time frames mentioned above.
* In view of our circumstances, we must take a very straightforward reading of the law, and cannot afford to dispute edge cases. This is quite likely to be unfair at times. Please understand our position. The law is rather heavily weighted toward the copyright holders. There is nothing we can do about that at present.

=== Rationale ===

We (Soylent News, PBC) are an entirely volunteer run operation with no paid staff. Members of our community volunteer to edit articles and perform other duties. Our only expenses are those needed to provide servers and access and pay minimal taxes and bookeeping expenses related to our status as a PBC. These, in total, amount to only a few thousand dollars per year.

Our only source of income is voluntary contributions from our users. While they have been generous, their numbers are small.

In view of this, it is clear there is no practical way for us to fund the level of legal expenses required for legal challenges related to copyright issues, or any other serious legal challenges.

Our primary operation is as a user forum where our community can submit articles and freely comment on them. A particular feature of our system, modified from one created in the 1990s by another entity, is that we do not delete or otherwise modify user submitted comments, instead using a moderation system that allows users to assign numeric scores to submitted comments. This was adopted to allow a high level of free speech while still allowing users to be selective in the quality of comments they read.

Due to this somewhat unusual system, there are no easily accessible means to remove or delete user input to the extent of completely removing it, in the hands of staff. Users do have the ability to edit and remove their own comments. But staff must use somewhat awkward means such as direct database edits, since the system as originated was designed specifically to NOT encourage this.

Our most straightforward approach to completely removing user submitted materials is to ask the user to remove it.

The DMCA puts us in an awkward position because of the situation described above. Prior to the passage of the DMCA, we relied for our protection on the idea, by law and common usage going back centuries if not millenia, that entities which provide services for all, freely and indiscriminately, are 'common carriers' and cannot be held responsible for individual acts of the people they serve. In plain language, this means that if someome robs you and escapes in a Ford automobile, the manufacturer or seller of that automobile cannot be held legally responsible for the actions of the robber.

The DMCA violates this long held principle for specific uses. It has been strongly criticised for this. However, despite the controversy surrounding it, it is at present the law of the land in the United States and since we are incorporated in the United States we must comply with it.

In view of this, several staff have gone through the law to determine exactly how it affected us and what our responsibilities are. The approach taken is that, again in view of our limited means, we must strive for the most straighforward, plain interpretation of what is written and avoid attempting to second guess possible future legal challeges to the law, or interpreting language in ways that might be more favorable to our circumstances but require 'alternate' interpretations other than the most obvious one.

The most signficant item coming out of our read of the law is that there is what is called a 'safe harbor' provision in it. This provision very specfically exempts entities who follow some strict requirements in the law from legal responsibility for the actions of their users, including:

* Monetary damages resulting from copyright violations
* Monetary relief includes 'damages, costs, attorneys fees, and any other form of monetary payment'
* Damages that might result from a disputed or mistaken interpretation of whether material is infringing
* Various other situations where damages might otherwise result

This 'safe harbor' provision was determined to be very desireable for us to qualify for inview of our circumstances.

To qualify, there are a number of conditions that must be met, notably including (with some others):

* A *Designated Agent* for to receive DMCA notices must be created
* Specific information about that agent must be filed with the US Copyright Office which makes it publicly available
* We must act 'expeditiously' to remove suspected infringing material upon receipt of a DMCA notice
* The user must be notified and has the opportunity to file a counter notice. Upon receipt we can restore the material in not less than 10 days nor more than 14 days after receipt of the notice
* If we receive a counter notice, we must provide a copy to the entitity who filed the DMCA notice
* Both DMCA notices and counter notices must follow a specific format outlined in the DMCA
* We are not held responsible for any infringing materials our users submit we are unaware of, but
* If we are made aware, by any means, of such materials, or suspected materials, even in the absence of a formal notice, we must act 'expeditiously' to remove them.
* We are not held responsible if we wrongly determine materials are infringing
* A copyright owner may obtain a subpoena asking us to identify to them an 'alleged infringer' for purposes (only) of 'protecting rights under' the DMCA. (Which we must comply with)
* We must have a DMCA policy, and must 'inform' 'subscribers and account holders' of it, which must
** Provide for the termination of users who are repeat offenders.
** in accordance with 'standard technical means' used by copyright holders provided they 'do not impose substantial costs' on us.

=== Reference Materials ===

* [http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf Direct link to a pdf of the DMCA] - The safe harbor provisions are in TITLE II—ONLINE COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT LIABILITY LIMITATION (skip down page)
* [http://copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/s_agents.html Link to US Copyright Office] - List of registered DMCA Agents
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMCA DMCA] - General article on DMCA at Wikipedia
* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Copyright_Infringement_Liability_Limitation_Act#Meaning_of_.22expeditious.22 Expeditious] - Link to Wikipedia article on the Safe Harbor provisions and interpretation of 'expeditious'.

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