The entire landscape of the internet may just change with the passing of the contentious government spending bill being hashed out by our elected officials currently. Why is that, you ask? Well it’s because of the Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act brought by Republican congressman Thom Tillis have decided if you use accidentally copyrighted material on YouTube, Twitch, Instagram, or wherever it happens to be, that will now be considered a felony and you can face up to a large fine and could face prison time. Yes, you heard that right, fines and possible jail time for sharing copyrighted material.
So let’s break this all down for you so you can understand just what this law means to you, your Instagram addicted sibling or your videogame twitch streaming roommate. first, what constitutes copyrighted material? Copyrighted material can be defined by any number of things: a song, a sound effect, a video clip, even you singing a small few seconds of your favorite song on a live stream or newsfeed post. All of these would now carry felony status and possible jail time with no leniency in regards to intent.
So, why is this happening now? How is this happening? Who is behind it? Well, it turns out Republican senator Thom Tillis decided to push for prison time for anyone using copyrighted material, even accidentally, and some speculate it is due to Tillis having received over $100,000 in campaign contributions from the Music & Entertainment Industry. This proposed law is being slipped in with the Omnibus bill that has to be passed by Midnight Sunday Night to avoid a government shutdown.
If you think this would be something the media would want to discuss, well it appears mainstream media has been largely silent on this possible monumental change to the internet. Many YouTubers and streamers found out when on December 10th, 2020, Isaac McIntyre posted an article on the site Dexerto warning about the possibility of Twitch streamers facing jail time when they are hit with multiple DCMA strikes on the Amazon-owned platform, which was surprisingly squeezed into congress’ eleventh-hour omnibus bill meant to keep the government funded and coronavirus relief plenished during these current times where millions of people are struggling and jobless for the majority of 2020. YouTubers such as ‘Life of Pablos’ & ‘Critical’ have done in-depth examinations of this proposal, which have also raised awareness of the issue.
This tactic by North Carolina Senator Tillis isn’t unheard of, as Congress rather frequently finds itself in situations where bills of this size need to be approved to avoid a government shutdown. Often, senators push controversial bills that normally wouldn’t pass on their own into a “must-pass bill” to get it greenlit under the radar.
The North Carolina representative believes America’s law enforcement needs effective tools to combat what he considers “unlawful copyright use” on platforms across the internet. Tillis’ felony proposal states that “Any streamer or creator who shares a song, album, or unauthorized video clip in a commercial setting should face a felony offense, with possible prison sentence”. Now, if this measure sounds familiar to you, it is actually quite similar to the SOPA/PIPA bills that were first tabled in 2012, along with the vexed Case Act, which was passed in October of 2019.
Senator Tillis however, appears to be conflating the rise of streaming and the rise of piracy together. The proposal argues that illegal streaming is an offense against the “right of public performance” and seeks to place the same level of felony penalties be applied “to such a violation compared to reproduction and distribution violations”. Currently, felony penalties for copyright infringement can include up to five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines in most extreme cased, though instances of such are rarely applied to offenders. Tillis even sent a letter to the director of the United States Copyright Office about whether or not his proposal would deter the streaming of copyrighted material and if it does, what specific statutory charges would the director recommend.
Since the revelation of Senator Tillis’s proposal, much of the tech industry has cried out against it, closing in on 20 organizations in fact — including tech trade groups and advocacy organizations — have written to Congress begging them to exclude this from the government spending provision. The sentiment across the internet and tech industry is clear — this could ruin the lives of regular people and the chance of a felony would drastically and negatively impact both expression and innovation. From sharing memes, videos, and downloading images, the landscape has proven difficult enough as is in simple civil copyright and the DMCA for people to feel comfortable acting upon their rights as American citizens.
For example, say you just bought Cyberpunk 2077, and you want to start a videogaming channel, you pop in the game, listening to the music in the game as your streaming and chatting to all the new fans, and boom, there exists copyrighted music within the Cyberpunk 2077 game! And yes, the game has an option in the settings to turn off copyrighted music, but alas, that doesn’t get you out of hot water either, there might essentially exist other copyrighted music within the game that could land you a felony or jail time if you stream it in. Recently popular YouTuber ‘Lovelyti TV’ received a copyright strike by 17 separate music entities when she began her stream singing roughly 17 seconds worth of the song by Soul4Real in conjunction with introducing herself on her live stream, which she states she will contest and is discussing her options with lawyers. if the Tillis proposal were to pass, she would be slapped with a felony and possibly jail time. A fate some call totalitarian.
At this current moment, anyone actively sharing the content of any kind on twitch, youTube, and/or Instagram should keep one eye open on the bill and the situation will be resolved soon, but the shift in the digital landscape against content creators is vast and should not be dismissed nor undercut. Voice your concerns using the hashtag #STOPDMCA and stand up for your digital rights on the internet. Back when SOPA, PIPA, and different iterations of COMPA, activists and regular people achieved results and created enough push back by banding together and voicing their concerns online and over the phone by calling their elected representatives.
Call your congressmen and woman, continue to keep #stopDMCA trending, and let it be known your rights on the internet are off-limits.