Internet democracy at stake in Google/Viacom lawsuit?

eBay, Facebook, Yahoo, and Ask.com owner IAC/Interactive may compete with Google for users, views and ad clicks, but the four know which side their bread is buttered on when it comes to digital copyright law. That's why they've rushed to Google's side this week to defend their rival in a massive copyright infringement lawsuit launched by Viacom.

Viacom's interpretation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) "would slow development of the Internet by making the hosting of user generated content an activity fraught with legal peril," eBay et al warned the court hearing the case in an amici brief. "The threat of ruinous liability would mean that other companies and services might never get off the ground in the first place." And that, in turn, would "retard the development of the Internet and electronic commerce and inhibit the growth and development of user-centric online models that, day after day, make the Internet and the world more democratic."