According to http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-57319344-261/riaa-lawyer-says-dmca-may-need-overhaul/, the four largest record labels are discontent with the way courts have interpreted the Digital Millennium Copyright act in recent years, says a lawyer who oversees litigation for the Recording Industry Association of America. Jennifer Pariser is quoted as saying: “I think the courts are interpreting Congress’ statute in a manner that is entirely too restrictive of content owners’ rights and too open to [Internet] service providers.” She is first among high-ranking entertainment executives to acknowledge that the battle to protect copyrights online, at least in the courts, has been against content owners.
For example, Viacom sued Youtube (and its parent company, Google) in 2007 for $1 billion in copyright suit alleging that Youtube’s content filter made it obvious to the layperson of copyright violations on the site. This kind of knowledge does not violate the red-flag requirement, according to District Judge Louis Stanton. A service provider must have knowledge of specific violations, and Youtube always asserted it is impossible to determine whether a clip/movvie/TV show was uploaded illegally versus the appropriate channels. Subsequent, similar judgings have determiend that infringing materials is up to the content owner, not the service provider.
This article touches upon ideas we have been studying in INFO 205, including vicarious liability.