BCCI emails Twitter
By Bala Shah

US-based The Chilling Effects Clearinghouse collects and analyzes legal complaints about online activity, helping net users to know their rights and understand the law.  The aim of this exercise is to stop unwarranted legal threats.  Chilling Effects is supported by EFF, Harvard, Berkeley, Stanford and other elite institutes.

Chilling Effects is a powerful moral voice in USA.

Regular readers of Techgoss are well aware that a large number of our articles are crowd sourced.  People send in tips, photos, story ideas and even articles. Many of our contributors have full times jobs in IT - ITES, and so prefer using a pseudonym.  A Tipster Sharmila* who asked us not to publish her full name wrote in

“
On Jan, 27, 2012, Twitter announced that it has worked out a way so that some of its content is blocked in some countries but available everywhere else.  This flexibility will go a long way in avoiding confrontations with some Governments and their local Courts.

Twitter also said it would make public all the legal threats and anti piracy requests it receives by publishing them in the Chilling Effects database.

And surprise surprise!  Many of the Cease and Desist and Removal requests to Twitter are from the top cricketing bodies - Cricket Australia, Cricket South Africa and even our own BCCI which manages cricket in India.

An example would be the following

‘
Cricket DMCA (Copyright) Complaint to Twitter
December 5, 2011

Sender Information:
Board of Control for Cricket in India
Bangalore, Karnataka, 560046, India

Recipient Information:
Twitter
San Francisco, CA, 94107, USA

Reported Twitter account: @elanasi

Reported material on Twitter: Tweet(s)

Description of original work: Audiovisual footage and production content relating to cricket matches governed by the BCCI are transmitted with license and authorization via television broadcast from match locations across India by BCCI's broadcast partners and official licensees.

Description of infringement: The copyrighted work includes audiovisual broadcasts of live cricket matches of the India v West Indies 2011 Cricket Tournament organized under the auspices of the Board of Control for Cricket in India ("BCCI"). These rights originate with BCCI. BCCI and its official partners and licensees are entitled to enforce these rights.

Reported Tweet URL:  elanasi/status/142545332289552384

Where does this Tweet link to? The Tweet links to another website where the infringing material is made available.
‘

“

Rs. 1000 has been couriered to Tipster Sharmila for this insightful Tip.

(Tipsters, Big thank you for all your news Tips and photos.  Do you have a story to tell? If you need to speak to us in confidence or write for us, email us at techgoss[at]hotmail. Or use the Anonymous Tip form at the top of our website. Anonymity guaranteed. We pay Rs. 1000 for 100 – 200 word snippets or photos. Unfortunately, we cannot use any tips which are not backed up by enough facts)