NTCA CEO Wants Stronger Copyright Protection for ISPs

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 2024 – Internet providers, designed to be neutral carriers of information, now face million-dollar penalties and ambiguous court rulings under a law originally designed to protect them. 

The lack of regulatory clarity around the Digital Millennium Copyright Act has placed Internet Service Providers in an impossible situation, warned Shirley Bloomfield, CEO of NTCA – the Rural Broadband Association, in a recent blog.

Without clear and consistent laws, especially in the face of courts issuing differing opinions, “compliance becomes a high-stakes game,’” Bloomfield said, “ISPs are left to interpret the DMCA and decide on their own which conflicting judicial interpretation they will follow.”

Although the DMCA includes protections to prevent ISPs from being held liable for copyright violations of their subscribers, Bloomfield explained, the law offers little guidance on what constitutes adequate action by ISPs to qualify for this “safe harbor” protection. As a result, ISPs are left to make difficult choices: either risk major financial penalties for not aggressively policing potential infringers or disconnect subscribers to avoid legal battles.

For instance, Cox Communications faced a $1 billion liability case initiated by Sony Music, though it held a consistent stance of refusing to disconnect any users’ engaging in copyright infringement. The case was later vacated by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. Now, both Sony and Cox have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to provide clarity on the DMCA's safe harbor provisions for ISPs. 

In the same vein, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently upheld a verdict against Grande Communications for failing to terminate accounts of users accused of piracy.

Bloomfield also highlighted the ripple effects of ISP disconnections.

“Disconnecting an account has far-reaching consequences and affects more than just the person who might have downloaded music without permission,” she said, adding that workers can lose essential internet access and students their homework resources.

“At a time when there is so much focus on ensuring broadband access nationwide, placing providers in the position of disconnecting subscribers to avoid litigation simply isn’t sustainable,” Bloomfield argued. She emphasized forcing ISPs to disconnect users at the first sign of an infringement claim was never Congress’s intent with the DMCA.

“We hope the Supreme Court will take up this case and inject some much-needed sanity into how the DMCA is interpreted and applied,” she concluded.