Andreas PrlićDec 22, 2022
Darius Kazemi

Really useful legal guide from the folks at the EFF for people running fediverse servers:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/12/user-generated-content-and-fediverse-legal-primer

(disclosure: I advised them on this work a bit)

User Generated Content and the Fediverse: A Legal Primer

A growing number of people are experimenting with federated alternatives to social media like Mastodon, either by joining an “instance” hosted by someone else or creating their own instance by running the free, open-source software on a server they control. (See more about this movement and joining...

Electronic Frontier Foundation
Dec 21, 2022 at 3:02pmWeb
Show threadDarius KazemiDec 21, 2022

Since several people have brought it up: this information is useful in a US context, and it might also be useful in an international context if people are concerned that their jurisdictions interact with DMCA. Do with that what you will. I very specifically did not put a "US only" claim on my post because I do not know.

I am now muting notifications on this thread. Please take up your legal questions and concerns with the EFF and not me.

Show threadRobinDec 21, 2022
@darius I wonder where the liability lies for most instance admins who technically aren't the service providers, just the "facilitators" – the service is provided by the server and maybe object storage companies, right?
Show threadDarius KazemiDec 21, 2022
@robin my extremely I-am-not-a-lawyer understanding is that the web host is not ultimately liable for this stuff. it is the recognized operator of the site. this is what makes running a web host legally even possible
Show threadRobinDec 21, 2022
@darius that makes sense!
Show threadCharles RandallDec 21, 2022
@darius Hey, a question. I don't want all my personal info publicly available on the DMCA agent site -- do you have a recommendation for (or a way to vet) third party DMCA Agent services? I'd be down for spending the money but I am always leery of just paying someone I found on google.
Show threadDarius KazemiDec 21, 2022
@charlesrandall no idea, sorry.
Show threadCharles RandallDec 21, 2022
@darius ah well, I figured it was worth a try. :D
Show threadWorthNotingDec 21, 2022
@darius
Very Helpful! Thank You!
Show threadDoug TabaccoDec 21, 2022
@darius Whenever I see these articles about the importance of registering a DMCA agent, they always call out "it's a cheap fee!" ignoring that you also need to pay for a PO Box or similar service, which balloons the cost significantly for small instance owners.
Show threadDarius KazemiDec 21, 2022
@tabacco yes, I mentioned that to EFF folks and they said this could be a good area to focus on pushing for policy changes since the rules clearly assume operators are companies and not people
Show threadSuran 🦊Dec 21, 2022

@darius
Could you clarify that this EFF text is only about the legal situation in the United States of America?
It doesn't apply to most of the world.

#Legal #Mastodon
@prannon

Show threadDarius KazemiDec 21, 2022
@Suran @prannon I was going to put that disclaimer on there but I am actually unsure one way or the other. It might be useful to people running servers outside the US who are still worried about DMCA liability in certain jurisdictions. It might not! I am not about to make a claim either way
Show threadSuran 🦊Dec 21, 2022

@darius
DMCA is a local US law.
Why would anyone else be concerned about it?

@prannon

Show threadDavid Penfold Dec 21, 2022
@darius cc @jerry
Show thread𝕂ℕ𝔽 𝕀𝕆𝕆 ☎️Dec 21, 2022
@darius “Many of us at EFF are lawyers, but we are not YOUR lawyers.”
Show thread(((Jann Gobble)))🏳️‍🌈Dec 21, 2022

@darius Ummm... @leo, you and @Lisa have this ⬆️ covered, right? 😂

Assuming you have with all the media you put out, but just wanted to flag it in case you hadn't seen it.

Show threadTiesa MeskisDec 21, 2022
@darius and this is why I love and support the EFF. Thank you for posting this.
Show threadNathan Wrigley Dec 21, 2022
@darius Very helpful. Thank you.
Show threadBrian TransplantDec 21, 2022

@darius I do have a question on this:

Given that my instance is on masto.host, do I count as the "host" of the instance or merely the admin?

Show threadRobDec 21, 2022
@BrianTransplant @darius since Darius has this muted I’m going to answer that this is unclear, that’s probably a lawyer question, but unless masto.host is explicitly stating that they’re providing this service you’re at least potentially on the hook!
Show threadBrian TransplantDec 21, 2022
@simrob @darius I just set up a Designated Agent, and I'll be getting a DMCA policy link set up soon.
Show threadTamzenDec 21, 2022
@darius
Show threadDoc Edward Morbius ⭕​Dec 21, 2022
@darius Big thanks to @eff for this, I've been strongly suggesting / hoping for such a guide for a while.
Show threadDavidDec 22, 2022
@darius wonderful! Thank you so much for this information!
Show threadClariceiDec 22, 2022
@darius I’ve been an #EEF supporter since I first learned of the org- around 2001? #FightForCodersRights!
Show threadClariceiDec 22, 2022
@darius Great Article!
Show threadErin ConroyDec 22, 2022

@darius

@qwosl

Show threadDavid ColettaDec 22, 2022

@darius @ultrasaurus I found this very helpful thread: https://nitter.net/rahaeli/status/1593819064161665024

Which led me to this CC-licensed DMCA Policy: https://www.dreamwidth.org/legal/dmca

Which I then adapted for my Mastodon instance quakers.social. I made a subdomain for meta stuff like this, and hosted my policy at https://meta.quakers.social/dmca-policy.

(And I signed up as a DMCA Registered Agent.)

#mastoadmin

rahaeli (@rahaeli)

Hey, US folks newly running Mastodon instances: do Future You a *huge* favor, mitigate your potential liability, and register with the copyright office and designate an agent to receive DMCA reports *right now*. https://www.copyright.gov/dmca-directory/

Nitter