No Easy Fix Seen for Digital Copyright Law Amid Content Flood

A push to strengthen digital copyright law could end up fortifying what critics say is a weapon wielded to squelch online speech.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act shields platforms from copyright liability if they remove infringing content posted by users when notified. But since 1998, the volume of internet content—and of infringement—has exploded beyond what the system was designed to handle.

The result is a law that allegedly kills too little infringing content but too much lawful speech.

“It can be weaponized for sure,” intellectual property attorney Eleanor Lackman of Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP said.

Rightsholders decry ineffective DMCA ...