EU Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market and ISP Liability: What\u27s Next at International Level?

The approval of the European Directive (EU) 2019/790 on copyright and related rights in the Digital Single Market has caused a considerable storm. Unlike the original draft, the final text provides for no general monitoring obligation. However, the ISPs will likely be required to implement filtering measures to avoid liability for unauthorized acts of communication to the public of copyrightprotected works. The lack of harmonization of the Directive with existing laws in non-EU countries will negatively impact the ISPs. To limit these consequences, this Article proposes the signature of an International Treaty in the framework of WIPO including issues such as the role of the ISPs, the liability of the ISPs and safe harbors. As regards filtering measures, the proposed Treaty gives freedom to States to implement them. Any filtering should be specific, limited, must not impose substantial costs on ISP or substantial burdens and be subject to human review

Making the private public: Regulating content moderation under Chinese law

With the expansion of digital economy, tackling illegal online content is an increasingly challenging task. China implemented a dual-track legal mechanism on content moderation, whereby it exempts general monitoring obligations of intermediaries under private law while imposing monitoring obligations under public law. In recent years, major platforms exercise much stronger control over flow of information, regardless of more serious consequences that impact the fundamental rights of users. Meanwhile, a series of Chinese court rulings have shown that these divergent attitudes towards monitoring obligations under public and private law have given rise to legal conflicts that may deprive intermediaries of their legitimate immunity, undermining the stability and efficiency of the safe harbor rule. Furthermore, the lack of adequate legal safeguards against the risk of abusing automatic content filtering technology might transform the internet into a digital panopticon. To redraw boundaries between monitoring obligations under private and public law, future Chinese legislation should not only provide clearer clarification on the scope of monitoring, but also include a provision prohibiting general monitoring obligations in private law. To provide legal predictability for affected parties and flexibility for future technological developments, a Good Samaritan clause should be introduced in Cybersecurity Law by learning from the substance of Article 7 of the DSA

The Enigma of Digitized Property A Tribute to John Perry Barlow

Compressive Sensing has attracted a lot of attention over the last decade within the areas of applied mathematics, computer science and electrical engineering because of it suggesting that we can sample a signal under the limit that traditional sampling theory provides. By then using dierent recovery algorithms we are able to, theoretically, recover the complete original signal even though we have taken very few samples to begin with. It has been proven that these recovery algorithms work best on signals that are highly compressible, meaning that the signals can have a sparse representation where the majority of the signal elements are close to zero. In this thesis we implement some of these recovery algorithms and investigate how these perform practically on a real video signal consisting of 300 sequential image frames. The video signal will be under sampled, using compressive sensing, and then recovered using two types of strategies, - One where no time correlation between successive frames is assumed, using the classical greedy algorithm Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP) and a more robust, modied OMP called Predictive Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (PrOMP). - One newly developed algorithm, Dynamic Iterative Pursuit (DIP), which assumes and utilizes time correlation between successive frames. We then performance evaluate and compare these two strategies using the Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) as a metric. We also provide visual results. Based on investigation of the data in the video signal, using a simple model for the time correlation and transition probabilities between dierent signal coecients in time, the DIP algorithm showed good recovery performance. The main results showed that DIP performed better and better over time and outperformed the PrOMP up to a maximum of 6 dB gain at half of the original sampling rate but performed slightly below the PrOMP in a smaller part of the video sequence where the correlation in time between successive frames in the original video sequence suddenly became weaker.Compressive sensing har blivit mer och mer uppmarksammat under det senaste decenniet inom forskningsomraden sasom tillampad matematik, datavetenskap och elektroteknik. En stor anledning till detta ar att dess teori innebar att det blir mojligt att sampla en signal under gransen som traditionell samplingsteori innebar. Genom att sen anvanda olika aterskapningsalgoritmer ar det anda teoretiskt mojligt att aterskapa den ursprungliga signalen. Det har visats sig att dessaaterskapningsalgoritmer funkar bast pa signaler som ar mycket kompressiva, vilket innebar att dessa signaler kan representeras glest i nagon doman dar merparten av signalens koecienter ar nara 0 i varde. I denna uppsats implementeras vissa av dessaaterskapningsalgoritmer och vi undersoker sedan hur dessa presterar i praktiken pa en riktig videosignal bestaende av 300 sekventiella bilder. Videosignalen kommer att undersamplas med compressive sensing och sen aterskapas genom att anvanda 2 typer av strategier, - En dar ingen tidskorrelation mellan successiva bilder i videosignalen antas genom att anvanda klassiska algoritmer sasom Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (OMP) och en mer robust, modierad OMP : Predictive Orthogonal Matching Pursuit (PrOMP). - En nyligen utvecklad algoritm, Dynamic Iterative Pursuit (DIP), som antar och nyttjar en tidskorrelation mellan successiva bilder i videosignalen. Vi utvarderar och jamfor prestandan i dessa tva olika typer av strategier genom att anvanda Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) som jamforelseparameter. Vi ger ocksa visuella resultat fran videosekvensen. Baserat pa undersokning av data i videosignalen visade det sig, genom att anvanda enkla modeller, bade for tidskorrelationen och sannolikhetsfunktioner for vilka koecienter som ar aktiva vid varje tidpunkt, att DIP algoritmen visade battre prestanda an de tva andra tidsoberoende algoritmerna under visa tidsekvenser. Framforallt de sekvenser dar videosignalen inneholl starkare korrelation i tid. Som mest presterade DIP upp till 6 dB battre an OMP och PrOMP

Conceptualizing Copyright Enforcement and Management in the Digital Age Through Two Models: The Right-Holder-Centric Model and Cooperative Model

This dissertation focuses on the issues of copyright enforcement and management. Especially, the research looks into how the digital technology reshapes the general perceptions and landscape of the copyright system in terms of online enforcement and management. Stepping into the digital age, the interaction between copyright holders and other parties, including online users and the ISPs, establishes two coexisting models—the right-holder-centric model and the cooperative model. Therefore, the dissertation analyzes which model is more appropriate and efficient with respect to online copyright enforcement and management. As a matter of fact, the coexistences of two models provides copyright holders and other parties with multiple options in terms of copyright enforcement and management. Each model has distinctive features and mechanism, and builds upon different perceptions and foundations. The idea that one model can replace the other does not support the analysis in this dissertation because each model covers strengths and weaknesses. Consequently, each model should be the supplementary option to the other according to specific circumstances. To sum up, the two models should works as a general entity to promote the copyright enforcement and management

The interpretation of copyright protection in video game streaming in Europe

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonVideo games play an important role in the economic and cultural landscape in Europe and have been the basis for user-generated content of all kinds. Online video gaming in particular has become very popular worldwide. One of the reasons for the ever-increasing popularity of the online video game is that it is available for live game streaming. ‘Let’s Play’ (LP) videos, is a term originated by the gaming community to refer to videos of someone playing a video game, with their audio commentary of the gameplay, which is edited to entertain the audience. LP videos are ‘episodic accounts of a player’s journey’, are very entertaining in nature, and can be broadcasted as pre-recorded videos on video-sharing platforms as well as live streamed. There are three types of LP videos: reviews, playthrough videos with commentary, and playthrough videos without commentary. The first category constitutes reviews of video games. In the second category a viewer can watch the entire or part of the video game being played, while the gamer gives his/her commentary on their experience. In the third category, viewers can watch videos of the entire game being played, with no commentary of the gamer. There is a debate about whether streaming video games online constitutes an act of communication to the public and as such, an online copyright infringement. Article 3 of the Directive 2001/29/EC provides that Member States shall provide authors with the exclusive right to authorise or prohibit any communication to the public of their works, by wire or wireless means, including the making available to the public of their works in such a way that members of the public may access them from a place and at a time individually chosen by them. Given that gamers communicate to the public whole or part of a video game, without the authorisation of the rightholder, it constitutes an unauthorised act of communication to the public. However, economic and strategy reasons have led video game developers to tolerate streaming activity, leaving streamers and platforms that host streaming videos at an uncertain stage regarding the lawfulness of their activities. While review LP videos fall under the exceptions and limitations to the communication to the public right, for the purposes of criticism or review, playthrough videos with and without commentary do not. The thesis interprets the communication to the public right in video game streaming, explores whether hosting service providers (platforms) can effectively take down infringing content as well as whether Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can effectively block access to infringing content. With the deployment of doctrinal and comparative analysis, the thesis brings to the surface the limitations of current online copyright enforcement methods and proposes ways to overcome those obstacles. In an effort to strike a fair balance between the rightholders’ rights, the right to conduct a business, and the freedom of expression, the thesis contributes that for LP videos and live streams to continue to exist, without the risk that they will be taken down after a request made by the rightholders, licence agreement is an alternative and feasible solution. In light of the DSM Directive 2019/790, streaming platforms, such as YouTube and Twitch.tv, perform an act of communication to the public or an act of making available to the public when give the public access to copyright-protected works or other protected subject matter uploaded by its users. Platforms shall be liable for unauthorised act of communication to the public, unless they obtain authorisation from the rightholder, by concluding a licence agreement, or they demonstrate that they have made their best efforts to obtain authorisation. The DSM Directive requires a licence agreement between rightholders and service providers (platforms). It is proposed that the licence agreement, which would allow the streaming of video game content, should be restricted to certain types of video games. Meanwhile, the thesis explores the potential of blockchain technology for the facilitation of the licence agreement. The potential of blockchain technology to process huge amounts of data, to issue digital certificates and the track of the use of non-licensable works would benefit the rightholders, intermediaries, and users

ACTA and the Specter of Graduated Response

This short paper, prepared for a workshop on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) and the Public Interest at American University’s Washington College of Law, considers the draft Internet provisions of ACTA in the context of concerns raised in the media that the treaty will require signatories to mandate graduated response regimes (à la France’s controversial HADOPI system) for online copyright enforcement. Although the Consolidated Text of ACTA, released in late April, confirms that mandatory graduated response is off the table for the treaty’s negotiators, the treaty in its current form both accommodates and promotes the adoption of graduated response. Moreover, opponents of graduated response should be wary of the fact that public law mechanisms—be they domestic or international—are not the only means by which graduated response can effectively become the law for Internet users. The United States and Ireland provide examples of the trend toward private ordering in the project of online copyright enforcement

Telecommunications and Internet Services: The digital side of the TTIP. Paper No. 8 in the CEPS-CTR project ‘TTIP in the Balance’ and CEPS Special Report No. 112/July, 17 July 2015

In the overall negotiations on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the digital chapter appears to be growing in importance. This is due to several factors, including the recent Datagate scandal that undermined trust between the negotiating parties and led to calls to suspend the US-EU Safe Harbour agreement as well as the furious debate currently ongoing in both legal systems on key issues such as policies to encourage broadband infrastructure deployment, network neutrality policies and the application of competition policy in cyberspace. This paper explores the current divergences between the two legal systems on these key issues and discusses possible scenarios for the ultimate agreement to be reached in the TTIP: from a basic, minimal agreement (which would essentially include e-labelling and e-accessibility measures) to more ambitious scenarios on network neutrality, competition rules, privacy and interoperability measures

Does existing UK copyright law adequately address the issue of copyright enforcement in the digital age?

The legal landscape in the digital age of copyright law is one of confusion and discord. Effective enforcement is difficult against websites, cumbersome and overly complex against individuals and a near impossibility against the tech-savvy. Therefore legislators are always left playing catch-up to the unrelenting change in technology. In general, they seek to deal with the problem via new and increasingly stringent legislation. This thesis analyses these issues by studying the current state of copyright law in the UK, alongside the series of government commissioned reports on reform in this area. The thesis considers whether or not there is an appropriate balance reached between rights holders and consumers, deducing that the balance is currently too much in favour of rights holders, while still being largely ineffectual when attempting to adequately enforce those rights. Having established that legislation alone is not enough to face the challenges of copyright enforcement, the thesis looks to alternative and complementary methods of improving the balance of rights between copyright holders and users and ensuring better enforcement. The tax/levy model represents a strong solution to the problem, alongside other alternative revenue systems. The thesis concludes that the problem of copyright enforcement cannot be solved by any one single solution: the needs of all parties must be met as much as possible in order to ensure a workable balance and provide a strong framework capable of facing the challenges of the digital age. A balance between legislation, alternative revenue streams and education may be the only effective and appropriate way forward