CCIA, Google & Microsoft Launch “Defend Fair Use” Web Site

Aug 29, 2007 at 9:30am ET by Barry Schwartz

Google, Microsoft-backed group ready to Defend Fair Use from Ars Technica reports Google and Microsoft are backing a new web site, organized by the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), named Defend Fair Use.

The web site is accepting signed petitions to support their push to make copyrights clearer to consumers. We reported earlier this month that Google and Microsoft are working with the CCIA to file a complaint with the FCC about how some content companies are taking their copyright warnings a bit too far.

The group hopes to take these signed petitions to the FTC later this year to help bolster their claims against some sports leagues, movie publishers, book publishers and others who use obscure wording their copyright warnings.

The Defend Fair Use web site has examples of what they call abuses of copyright statements.

Postscript From Danny: I like the site and the concept, but it was disappointing to find no background information on the group, such as Microsoft’s and Google’s backing. It will also be interesting to see what happens when someone starts tracking down copyright statements from both of those companies for different products that might be deemed abusive by others.

For example, Authorama: Testing If Google Can Restrict Public Domain Books It Offers For Download covers how Google was (and might still be) implying that downloaded books in the public domain could only be used for non-commercial use. When asked, Google said they don’t view this as more than a request, and it’s certainly not as harsh as statements you get in some television programs, but clearly some people might come away thinking they can’t use these works however they like.

Barry Schwartz is Search Engine Land's News Editor and owns RustyBrick, a NY based web consulting firm. He also runs Search Engine Roundtable, a popular search blog on very advanced SEM topics. Barry's personal blog is named Cartoon Barry and he can be followed on Twitter here.

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