Statement on Google’s conduct by founder of CelebrityNetWorth.com (2019) [pdf]

If the language is indeed not general beyond trap streets - if I create a fake celebrity and data regarding them, I would argue that is more like making a story. A trap street is a small line on the map (generally hidden somewhere unimportant) and a couple words. A fake celebrity requires much more content.

From the PDF "I added fivecompletely conjured celebrities to the site. I used stock photos with entirely made up names, biographies and net worth numbers. I published the pages backdated several yearsso they were nearly invisible to the world."

Now, let's look at a real celebrity on their site https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/actors...

It seems reasonable to assume from the pdf that they put the kind of effort into an article on the fake celebrities to make them indistinguishable from real celebrities, it may be decided that this is the same as a trap street. But I don't think it is just a foregone conclusion.

Aside from all that - https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/mar/06/andrewclark they might be able to sue in some other place than the U.S and find a more sympathetic court.

That's an extreme thing to say and crosses into personal attack. The thread you seem to be referring to (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5418864) doesn't seem to support what you've said here. At a minimum, you're breaking the site guideline which says: "Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

I'm not saying your claims about Google and your site are false—I have no idea; it sounds like you have every right to be frustrated. Also, I don't know Matt. But these sorts of accusations ought not to be slung carelessly on HN. Since we're trying to have a site that staves off internet-default outcomes, we all need to be careful about this.

I have experience with these dynamics in the HN context and can tell you that people jump to conclusions all the time about why they were penalized or banned. Their conclusions are almost always wrong and overly dramatized. Frequently they take to the forum to declaim about how badly they were treated, and they always put it in strikingly specific and factual-sounding terms, as if they know for sure. But they don't know for sure; in fact they don't know at all. They've just completely made it up.

The HN context is simpler and has lower stakes than Google. (At least here, people can get factual answers to specific questions if they ask.) But that only strengthens the point: these domains are complicated and the dramatic explanations that people come up with out of frustration are almost always wrong. Of course it's frustrating is Google has penalized your site, but please don't let that boil over into accusations against specific people unless you can strictly demonstrate what you're saying.

I would surmise that the most popular laws ever written by humanity, collectively, started with a bunch of people thinking some version of "That behavior is questionable."

So sure, the last part is bad too. But that statement was being provide to people who write new laws. Not quite understanding why the current legality of Google's copying is that significant in that context.