Safe Harbor

Categories: Regulations

Safe harbor simply means that, if you follow a basic set of rules, you cannot be found guilty of doing a crime or otherwise shady dealings as you live under those safe harbor rules.

The most famous safe harbor situation in recent times, and certainly as it applies to Shmoop, came with the myriad lawsuits of copyright protection, as more or less all of the valuable content of the world was stolen and posted on YouTube, Napster, and other peer-to-peer networks.

Caught in the middle were the internet service providers: Comcast, AT&T, and dozens of others who allowed Joe Sixpack to connect to the internet and download, um…blurry art films. In order to sort out the legal situation, the government granted safe harbor to those internet providers, such that, if it had been deemed that YouTube did, in fact, steal the guts of the entertainment industry, and essentially help bankrupt the music industry, and then lost a $50B lawsuit...only Google would be liable.

The internet service providers, like Comcast and AT&T, would have safe harbor protections inside of those lawsuits, and they still percolate every now and again today.

Bottom line: there will always be storms, and there will always be a need for safe harbors. Although you can never be too safe when there are sharks and lawyers in the water.

Related or Semi-related Video

Finance: What is a Safe Harbor?3 Views

00:00

Finance allah shmoop what is a safe harbor provisions All

00:07

right well here's a dangerous harbor and here's a safe

00:11

one Yeah ok so now apply the notion to finance

00:14

land it's not all that different Safe harbor simply means

00:17

that if you follow a basic set of rules you

00:20

can not be found guilty of doing a crime or

00:23

otherwise shady dealings as you live under those safe harbor

00:28

rules Well the most famous safe harbor situation in recent

00:32

times and certainly as it applies to shmoop came with

00:34

the myriad lawsuits of copyright protection as more or less

00:39

all of the valuable content of the world was stolen

00:42

and posted on youtube napster and a whole bunch of

00:45

other peer to peer networks Well caught in the middle

00:47

where the internet service providers comcast tea and dozens of

00:51

others who allowed joe six pack to connect to the

00:54

internet and download you know blurry art films in order

00:58

to sort out the legal situation the government granted safe

01:02

harbor provisions to those internet providers such that if it

01:07

had been deemed that youtube did in fact steal the

01:11

guts of the entertainment industry or provide the gun weaponry

01:14

It's for joe six pack to do so and essentially

01:17

helped bankrupt the music industry And then they lost a

01:20

fifty billion dollar lawsuit Well then on ly google who

01:24

owns youtube would be liable The internet service providers like

01:28

comcast and at and t were granted safe harbour protections

01:33

inside of those lawsuits and they still percolate every now

01:36

and then Again you know today so comcast and att

01:39

and t basically had a safe harbour built around them

01:43

by whole bunch of government lawyers that allowed them to

01:46

continue streaming on the internet and providing internet stuff to

01:50

the masses And had the government not provided that safe

01:53

harbor well it might've made sense for comcast and t

01:56

to just shut down and stop internet service to the

01:59

masses is and then everyone would have lost And you

02:01

know that would have been a bad thing right Right

02:03

Well the bottom line there will always be storms and

02:05

there will always be a need for safe harbors wherever

02:08

you go although you can never be too safe when 00:02:11.163 --> [endTime] there are sharks in the water Yeah

Find other enlightening terms in Shmoop Finance Genius Bar(f)