DMCA - ANALYSIS - TITLE 2

SAFE HARBORS FOR TRANSMISSION AND ROUTING

Jonathan Band’s DMCA Memo
THE DIGITAL MILLENNIUM COPYRIGHT ACT

TITLE II: ONLINE SERVICE PROVIDER LIABILITY

Safe Harbors for Transmission and Routing

A final safe harbor in the Act covers an OSP’s transmission, routing, or providing connections for material through the OSP’s system and for intermediate and transient storage of material in the course of such activity. In essence, this safe harbor covers an OSP’s activities in acting as a conduit for material travelling between other parties.

To qualify for this exemption, several conditions must be met:

1. the transmission of the material must have been initiated or directed by someone other than the OSP;
2. the activities covered by the exemption must be carried out through an automatic technical process and not by any selection of material by the OSP;
3. the OSP must not select the recipients of the material except as an automatic response to another person’s request;
4. the OSP must not make any copy of the material ordinarily accessible to anyone other than intended recipients and must not keep any copy for longer than reasonably necessary for the OSP’s transmission, routing, or connection; and
5. the OSP must not modify the content of the material as it transmits it through its system.⁴⁴

1. General Conditions for Eligibility
2. Safe Harbors for System Storage and Information Locating Tools
3. Safe Harbors for System Caching
4. Safe Harbors for Transmission and Routing
5. Extent of Exemptions from Liability
6. Notice and Take-Down Provisions
7. "Take Down" Procedures