Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2012/11/05/twitter_withhelds_material_from_copyright_infringers/

Twitter in BRUTAL crackdown on copyright looters. Sort of

#Yoink #Naughty-naughty #Ineffectual

By Kelly Fiveash

Posted in Legal, 5th November 2012 16:12 GMT

Twitter has begun politely telling people to stop attempting to share copyrighted material on the micro-blogging site by tweeting a pass-agg message informing them that the content has been withheld.

The company revealed on Saturday that it would be offering "more transparency in processing copyright reports by withholding Tweets".

Twitter warned in an accompanying policy article that repeat "violators" could have their accounts killed off permanently.

Previously, the privately-held outfit would simply remove any material that had been posted on the site that was believed to have infringed someone else's copyright.

But Twitter is now more properly policing the procedure by notifying the individuals who breach someone else's work on the site. It also ties the firm's copyright policy more tightly to requirements under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

The company said in July this year that a total of 3,378 copyright takedown notices had been demanded of Twitter in the first half of 2012. Now that the firm is highlighting copyright infringements more prominently, it's likely that that figure will rocket. ®