Youtube is a safe-harbor under the DMCA because they facilitate this transaction. Here is the workflow:
1) You put something online.
2) They come and submit a DMCA takedown.
Little or no verification is required at this point, because the penalties for filing a false DMCA takedown are very limited and the penalties for not responding appropriately to a DMCA takedown are huge (eg. youtube can lose their safe-harbor status and become directly liable for your infringement.) The appropriate response to a DMCA takedown for a safe-harbor is in almost every case to take it down.
3) (Two?) weeks pass. You file an appeal or "counter-notice." YouTube can accept your appeal if it contains the necessary information, with no court oversight, at the end of the two weeks. They put your content back up, they forward your information to the DMCA claimant, and they are thus absolved of any direct liability and retain their safe-harbor status.
4) If the entity from (2) believes that you are indeed infringing, they now have your information and can file in a court of law, or as it was shown here, firebomb your house.
This is actually the way the process of DMCA law is written in my understanding.
1) You put something online.
2) They come and submit a DMCA takedown.
Little or no verification is required at this point, because the penalties for filing a false DMCA takedown are very limited and the penalties for not responding appropriately to a DMCA takedown are huge (eg. youtube can lose their safe-harbor status and become directly liable for your infringement.) The appropriate response to a DMCA takedown for a safe-harbor is in almost every case to take it down.
3) (Two?) weeks pass. You file an appeal or "counter-notice." YouTube can accept your appeal if it contains the necessary information, with no court oversight, at the end of the two weeks. They put your content back up, they forward your information to the DMCA claimant, and they are thus absolved of any direct liability and retain their safe-harbor status.
4) If the entity from (2) believes that you are indeed infringing, they now have your information and can file in a court of law, or as it was shown here, firebomb your house.
This is actually the way the process of DMCA law is written in my understanding.