What is the DMCA?

The DMCA is a copyright law by the United States Government that dictates that anything hosted by anybody on the internet that violates copyright must be removed or the host can be sued/prosecuted/penalized. This includes links, images, and anything else hosted on the world wide web.<br><br>This is why when you post a link to a torrent file for anything, the moderation team will take it down and probably ban you. The torrent file links to software, a movie, a TV show, an album, etc. that is obviously not free. It is also not your property, so anything you do with it violates copyright law. When an official copyright holder finds out their work is being pirated/hosted on other sites without their permission, they can sue the host and force them to take down the content. The same thing applies to any picture that is not licensed for public use, such as any picture from chamber like r/roddenberry. If r/roddenberry is caught hosting copyrighted content, they can be banned, and even prosecuted. This is called a DMCA takedown, and the reason it is the host and not the poster is because it is the host job to moderate the content on their website. Any content hosted by them reflects on them just as much as it reflects on the poster.<br><br>On 4chan we host mainly images, and links to other websites. This means anything that violates a copyright law is completely against the rules. The content hosted on 4chan also cannot link to a website hosting copyrighted content, copyrighted games, movies, shows, music, etc. Any link to a copyrighted product without the permission of the copyright holder is a direct attack on them, and a copyright violation. This includes any show that is streamed from an unapproved website, streaming a movie without permission of the copyright holder, hosting games with pirated serial keys, and any other non-blatant obvious copyright violations.<br><br>The rules are the rules, and when you sign up for an account and make a post, you did by default agree to follow the rules. If you didn't read the rules, that is your own stupidity and you are still expected to follow the rules. If you post copyrighted content with the intent of violating the copyright, you will be banned. You are either ignorant, stupid, or both, and need to be taught a lesson. This is why people get banned for hosting copyrighted content, and the site is protected online by strict copyright laws.