An online service provider is an entity which provides a service online. It can include internet service providers and web sites, such as the Wikipedia or message board operators. An Internet service provider (ISP) is a business or organization that offers users access to the Internet and related services. ... A website, Web site or WWW site (often shortened to just site) is a collection of webpages, that is, HTML/XHTML documents accessible via HTTP on the Internet; all publicly accessible websites in existence comprise the World Wide Web. ... Wikipedia is a Web-based, free-content encyclopedia that is written collaboratively by volunteers. ...

This broad definition is significant for the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA) portion of the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which defines an online service provider in two different ways for different portions of the law: The Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act (OCILLA), a portion of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act known as DMCA 512 or the DMCA takedown provisions, is a 1998 US law that provided a safe harbor to online service providers (OSPs, including ISPs) that promptly take down content if someone alleges... US,Us or us may stand for the United States of America us, the oblique case form of the English language pronoun we. ... The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a controversial United States copyright law which criminalizes production and dissemination of technology that can circumvent measures taken to protect copyright, not merely infringement of copyright itself, and heightens the penalties for copyright infringement on the Internet. ...

• (A) As used in subsection (a), the term service provider means an entity offering the transmission, routing, or providing of connections for digital online communications, between or among points specified by a user, of material of the user's choosing, without modification to the content of the material as sent or received.
• (B) As used in this section, other than subsection (a), the term service provider means a provider of online services or network access, or the operator of facilities therefor, and includes an entity described in subparagraph (A).

These broad definitions make it possible for a large number of web businesses to benefit from the OCILLA. ...

See also: Online service provider law Online service provider law is a summary and case law tracking page for laws, legal decisions and issues relating to online service providers, like the Wikipedia and ISPs, from the viewpoint of an OSP considering its liability and customer service issues. ...