The Center for Copyright Information (CCI) is an American organization focused on advocacy and initiatives in support of copyright law. The CCI aims to educate the public about
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
law; coordinates with copyright owners and
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privat ...
s (ISPs) about issues related to online
copyright infringement
Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...
; assists with the design, implementation, review, and promotion of an online infringement notification and mitigation system (the
Copyright Alert System); collects and disseminates online infringement data; and promotes lawful means of obtaining copyrighted works.
[Memorandum of Understanding]
Aug. 2011 amendment
Oct. 2012 amendment
The organization was created as a partnership between industry associations, including the
Motion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distrib ...
, the
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and ...
, and five major American Internet service providers.
Background
The Center for Copyright Information was formed in September 2011 to coordinate efforts between the television, film and music industries and service providers to curb online
copyright infringement
Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...
and educate Internet subscribers about the issue.
The RIAA began negotiations to create the Center for Copyright Information and its Copyright Alert System in December 2008, after it ceased a five-year litigation campaign against individual file sharers.
Between 2003 and 2008, the RIAA adopted a practice of suing individual file sharers; previously it had focused on efforts to shut down
peer-to-peer file sharing
Peer-to-peer file sharing is the distribution and sharing of digital media using peer-to-peer (P2P) networking technology. P2P file sharing allows users to access media files such as books, music, movies, and games using a P2P software program tha ...
services.
The MPAA and RIAA, along with the
Independent Film & Television Alliance and
American Association of Independent Music
The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) is a trade association that represents independent record labels in the United States, founded in 2005. A2IM is headquartered in New York City, with chapters located in Nashville, Chicago, North ...
, as associations representing independent producers in their fields, reached an agreement in July 2011 with five large ISPs to create the Copyright Alerts System.
[ The trade groups argued copyright infringement was costing the U.S. economy hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in lost earnings and tax revenue annually.] New York Governor Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...
helped bring parties to the table as part of his 2008 work with Internet service providers to block access to online child pornography
Child pornography (also called CP, child sexual abuse material, CSAM, child porn, or kiddie porn) is pornography that unlawfully exploits children for sexual stimulation. It may be produced with the direct involvement or sexual assault of a ...
. Under the July 2011 agreement, several U.S. Internet service providers, including Verizon Communications
Verizon Communications Inc., commonly known as Verizon, is an American multinational telecommunications conglomerate and a corporate component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is headquartered at 1095 Avenue of the Americas i ...
, Comcast
Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...
, Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...
, Cablevision Systems and AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile ...
agreed to send alerts to customers who appeared to be using their accounts for illegal downloading. At the time of the agreement 75% of all broadband internet usage was provided by one of these five companies. The Memorandum of Understanding established that copyright holders and ISP’s would split the costs of the system 50/50. According to the CCI’s first tax filing, chronicling the first 8 months of the companies operations, CSA operation costs were $1,377,633.00. In July 2011, the Obama administration
Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. A Democrat from Illinois, Obama took office following a decisive victory over Republican ...
praised the formation of the CCI on the official White House Blog as "a positive step” and consistent with the executive branch’s strategy of encouraging voluntary intellectual property enforcement. In 2011, the CCI had its corporate status revoked according to the Columbia Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs for failing to file the proper paperwork, which they quickly resolved. In 2013, the CCI announced it would be supporting iKeepSafe’s pilot program. iKeepSafe, is an independently created curriculum designed to educate children about copyright law and fair use in the digital age.
Leadership and advisors
CCI is led by an executive committee, with Executive Director Jill Lesser as its head. Lesser was previously the senior vice president of domestic public policy for AOL
AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc ...
, as well as the deputy director of public policy at People for the American Way.
In addition, the CCI has an advisory board which "consults actively on issues the Executive Committee is considering." The CCI's original advisory board includes consumer advocates Jerry Berman, founder of the Center for Democracy and Technology
Centre for Democracy & Technology (CDT) is a Washington, D.C.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organisation that advocates for digital rights and freedom of expression. CDT seeks to promote legislation that enables individuals to use the internet for pu ...
; Gigi Sohn, president and CEO of Public Knowledge
Public Knowledge is a non-profit Washington, D.C.-based public interest group. Founded in 2001 by David Bollier and Gigi Sohn, Public Knowledge is primarily involved in the fields of intellectual property law, competition and choice in the dig ...
; and Jules Polonetsky, director and co-chair of the Future of Privacy Forum. Leslie Harris, former President of the Center of Democracy and Technology replaced Gigi Sohn when she was asked by the Chairman of Federal Communication’s Commission, Tom Wheeler, to run the FCC’s External Affairs branch.
Copyright Alert System
The Copyright Alert System uses third parties to identify when copyrighted information is shared via peer-to-peer services. These third parties inform Internet service providers, which then send an alert to the relevant customer. The Copyright Alert System was launched in February 2013 by the Center for Copyright Information. The CCI has stated that the primary goal of the system is "to make consumers aware of activity that has occurred using their Internet accounts, educate them on how they can prevent such activity from happening again, and provide information about the growing number of ways to access digital content legally."
See also
*Copy protection
Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy prevention and copy restriction, describes measures to enforce copyright by preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media.
Copy protection is most commonly found on ...
References
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External links
Official website
Intellectual property law
Copyright law organizations
Computer law
Motion Picture Association
Recording Industry Association of America
Organizations established in 2011
2011 establishments in the United States