Chokepoints: Global Private Regulation on the InternetIn January 2012, millions participated in the now-infamous “Internet blackout” against the Stop Online Piracy Act, protesting the power it would have given intellectual property holders over the Internet. However, while SOPA’s withdrawal was heralded as a victory for an open Internet, a small group of corporations, tacitly backed by the US and other governments, have implemented much of SOPA via a series of secret, handshake agreements. Drawing on extensive interviews, Natasha Tusikov details the emergence of a global regime in which large Internet firms act as regulators for powerful intellectual property owners, challenging fundamental notions of democratic accountability. |
Contents
Macrointermediaries Enforcement Capabilities | 23 |
Internet Firms Become Global Regulators | 36 |
U S Agreements | 63 |
U K Agreements | 64 |
European Agreement | 65 |
Eight Nonbinding Enforcement Agreements | 66 |
Revenue Chokepoints | 68 |
Processing Payments Online | 73 |
Proposed and Actual Rules for Search Intermediaries | 137 |
Domain Intermediaries Enforcement Measures | 143 |
Marketplace Chokepoints | 156 |
Key Provisions in European Commissions Agreement | 175 |
Changing the Enforcement Paradigm | 188 |
Transparency and Nonbinding Agreements | 215 |
A Future for Digital Rights | 220 |
Notes 241 | 241 |
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advertising industry advertising intermediaries Alibaba Group American Express anticounterfeiting regime automated blacklist brands child pornography China companies complaints consumers copyright-infringing content corporate actors court orders Department for Culture digital advertising domain name domain registrars eBay eBay and Taobao eBay’s enforcement efforts enforcement practices European Commission European rights holders global GoDaddy Google Google’s IACC informal agreements infringing sites intellectual property rights International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition Internet firms IPEC Kotecha legislation legitimate macrointermediaries MasterCard Media and Sport mediaries ment merchant accounts negotiations networks nonbinding agreements online pharmacies Open Rights Group operating payment intermediaries payment providers PayPal PIPA platforms policies proactive protection regulation regulatory relation response rights holders rules sale of counterfeit sales listings search engine search intermediaries sellers selling counterfeit SOPA takedown Taobao tion trade associations transparency reports U.S. and European U.S. government United Kingdom users USTR Visa websites WikiLeaks Yahoo