The News/Media Alliance has successfully prompted the removal by several online code repositories of illegal web browser add-on software offerings from their websites. These offerings, which unscrupulous third parties posted to the code repositories’ websites, are designed to allow the public to bypass technical measures that Alliance news publisher members use to protect access to their content.
News/Media Alliance President and CEO Danielle Coffey said, “The Alliance applauds these platforms for swiftly removing these bypass tools, which are unlawful circumvention technologies prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and which one platform expressly confirmed also violates that platform’s terms of service.”
Alliance members are dedicated to producing and distributing valuable reporting to public, including reporting on local, national and global developments; entertainment and the arts; food; wellness; and other matters of public interest.
Coffey added, “Quality reporting is not free. Our members make significant investments to produce the journalism that is vital to civic engagement and the functioning of our democracy. But to do so, our members depend on their ability to monetize their content, with subscription revenues and other payments providing an essential lifeline for many publishers.”
For these reasons, the Alliance took prompt action after learning of the actors’ posting of software designed to bypass the paywall and metering tools that news media publishers use to protect access to their content and maintain their business models.
To be clear, offering, distributing, and hosting paywall and password bypass software constitutes trafficking in circumvention technology, for which the DMCA offers no safe harbor. The Alliance will continue to vigorously advocate for its members’ intellectual property rights, which are critical to the important public interest functions of journalism.
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