We at Automattic are firm believers in legitimate copyright protection. We are also vigilant about shielding our users from abuse, particularly in cases in which the abuse aims to censor legitimate criticism or ignores fair use of copyrighted materials. As an online service provider, balancing these diverse interests and rights is important to us and […]
Read more →Automattic’s mission is to democratize publishing, part of which involves fighting for digital rights online. As a result, we are proud to sponsor RightsCon 2017 — a conference starting today, centred around “how to keep the internet open, free, and secure.” Several members of our legal and policy teams are happily in Brussels to join […]
Read more →Today we launch our seventh bi-annual transparency report, covering the period between July 1 and December 31, 2016. As usual, we detail the number of takedown demands and requests for information received from governments, as well as the intellectual property (IP) takedown notices we have received. Having published these reports for a number of years now, […]
Read more →This week we were proud to be unveiled as an official corporate sponsor of the Open Rights Group (‘ORG’), the very same week that the controversial Investigatory Powers Bill is being debated in the British Parliament. ORG has been fighting tirelessly for digital rights in the UK since 2005. Despite their relatively small size, they have […]
Read more →At Automattic, we’re very mindful of the trust our users place in us to keep their information private and secure, and we work hard to build systems, software, and legal policies to safeguard that information. We’re also very mindful of threats to user trust and security, and we believe that the recent federal court order, issued […]
Read more →Our latest transparency report is hot off the press, complete with data and details about the intellectual property infringement notices, government takedown demands, and government requests for information we received between July 1 and December 31, 2015. You can view our updated report here. Taking a closer look at the numbers, you may notice that […]
Read more →Internet Service Providers and online platforms like WordPress.com are increasingly facing demands to block access to URLs in different countries. These orders can come as the result of court decisions (in the case of the UK and Turkey), or directly from governmental authorities (in the case of Russia or Georgia) and are usually directed at content […]
Read more →Last week saw an important victory in the battle to protect the fair use of copyrighted material online. A Federal Appeals Court held in Lenz v. Universal that the DMCA requires rights holders to consider the important doctrine of ‘fair use’ before issuing a takedown notification. We submitted an amicus brief in this case, and are very pleased […]
Read more →Net neutrality – the principle that providers of internet service must treat all traffic equally – is a cornerstone of the free, open internet. This once-obscure principle has been in the news, as federal agencies, Congress, and even the President debated the proper scope of net neutrality regulations. Automattic supports net neutrality. We recently joined […]
Read more →Earlier this year, we talked about the dangers of relying on third-party bots to chase down potential copyright infringement, and the ironic circumstances that ensue when the rights holder’s own content becomes a target. It’s a frustrating situation for everyone, but this kind of oversight is no surprise when automation is let off the leash. […]
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Transparency Report 