I dug up a copy of a note I published years ago when I was in law school. I served as the co-editor in chief of the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution. It is entertaining for me to dig up and look at my old work before I had kids. http://cardozojcr.com/issues/volume-2-1/note-3/

“In October 1998, the United States Congress passed, and the President signed, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”).[1] Section 512 of the DMCA addresses the problem of Internet copyright infringement suits against Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”). The ease of electronic distribution on the Internet[2] and the freedom of information exchange through the World Wide Web[3] precipitated a significant increase in the user transgression of copyrighted works.[4] Section 512 of the DMCA was the culmination of combined influences from conflicting case law determining the extent of ISP liability for on-line copyright infringement,[5] the Clinton Administration’s Information Infrastructure Task Force (“IITF”),[6] and complaints from ISPs fearing that existing copyright law would render them extinct from high costs associated with liability.[7] The DMCA mitigates an ISP’s copyright liability in connection with transmitting and automatic copying of copyrighted works on their networks. The mitigation is in the form of safe harbors that require an ISP to expeditiously take down alleged copyright infringing websites upon a copyright owner’s notification.[8]”