• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, October 6, 2010

Fox News, MSNBC, National Public Radio and other news organizations have used copyright law to stifle political speech online, according to a new report by the Center for Democracy & Technology.

The CDT examined publicly available records and found 12 recent instances of political ads' removal from the Web due to bogus takedown notices. "Parties whose videos were targeted and removed include candidates, commentators, and issue advocacy groups, from both the right and the left sides of the political spectrum," the CDT wrote. "Based on available information, all the incidents discussed below appear to be straightforward cases of fair use."

The best-known example probably occurred in 2008, when YouTube removed an ad posted by the McCain campaign after CBS filed a Digital Millennium Copyright Act takedown notice alleging that the ad violated its copyright. The spot incorporated a seven-second clip from a CBS news program -- and did so in a way that clearly was legitimate.

As the CDT explains, the ad wasn't aimed at selling products; the McCain campaign wasn't competing with CBS to broadcast news; and the spot used only a fraction of the original 22-minute program. Why, then, did CBS object? The digital rights group says the news network didn't want to be perceived as endorsing a candidate. "This is not a concern that copyright law and the DMCA were created to advance," the CDT writes.

The CDT isn't casting blame on Web sites for honoring the takedown notices -- and, in fact, it wouldn't make sense to do so, given that the DMCA only protects sites from liability for user-uploaded content if it's removed upon request. Instead, the CDT is calling on broadcasters to "refrain from abusing the DMCA process."

While that's certainly worth asking for, it's probably not likely to happen any time soon. If news organizations think that sending a takedown notice will protect their reputation, they probably will continue to do so.