In February 2022, C4C responded to the the consultation by the U.S. Copyright Office on technical measures to identify or protect copyrighted works online.

Our overall recommendation is simple: the uptake of technical measures to identify or protect copyrighted works online should not be mandated, nor should filtering become the de facto modus operandi online through ‘voluntary’ agreements.

The evidence outlined in our submission shows the negative effects faced by users, citizens and creators. These detrimental effects are reinforced when users are confronted with algorithmic failure combined with 3-strikes policies on platforms.

Moreover, growing calls from the copyright industry for stay-down ignore the fact that a piece of content can be used in multiple ways and that the copyright status of content has an expiry date, all contextual elements which algorithms cannot comprehend.