Jeremy Malcom and Maira Sutton wrote an article on the Electronic Frontier Foundation website that deals with Hollywood trying to influence domain registrars. The article is well written and gives a peek into the behind the scenes battles taking place on the IP front. Domain registrars actually became what was called a “New Issue Focus” by the United States Trade Representative (USTR). It looks like industry groups would like the registrars to be on their side in the fight against piracy.
From the article:
Hollywood Asks Domain Registrars to Censor the Web for Intellectual Property Infringement
The United States Trade Representative (USTR) has built an arsenal of tools to pressure other nations to enact enforcement measures that benefit major entertainment companies such as the members of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). Since a few years ago, it began releasing a stand-alone Notorious Markets List. It’s an annual publication where the USTR lists “notorious” intellectual property infringing markets that supposedly enable “substantial copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting” that harms U.S. businesses. Until now, it mostly includes online and offline markets where people provide counterfeit and infringing goods.
The latest report for 2014 was just released last week. The USTR listed 21 websites, including torrent and streaming sites, but this is the first year it listed domain name registrars. In a section called “New Issue Focus: Domain Name Registrars”, the USTR claims that some registrars are “playing a role in supporting counterfeiting and piracy online.” It writes:
Read the full article on EFF.org
It would be nice if the hosting industry was given the same level of attention.
Right. And when people use their mobile phones to coordinate the robbery of a record store, they would accuse Apple or the phone companies of aiding the criminals…