Live data from Hacker News

Pollen tried to remove my article and Google is assisting with it

blog.pragmaticengineer.com

11–20 of 139 posts

Re: Pollen tried to remove my article and Google is assisting with it

#13
> It seems that anyone can file a bogus copyright claim to get an article they don't like removed from Google's search index

This has been known for years. Copyright has been abused for many many years in this sense.

And Google is very well known for their completely absent human-in-the-loop support, so that doesn’t help either.

Re: Pollen tried to remove my article and Google is assisting with it

#15
post #14

> Negus-Fancey I have seen that posh double-barreled surname before: Charles and Cathy Negus-Fancey were the managers of the reclusive cult musician Scott Walker and his interface to the world. Any close relation?

Probably - he got started in the music business: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/talent-20...

Re: Pollen tried to remove my article and Google is assisting with it

#16
post #13

> It seems that anyone can file a bogus copyright claim to get an article they don't like removed from Google's search index This has been known for years. Copyright has been abused for many many years in this sense. And Google is very well known for their completely absent human-in-the-loop support, so that doesn’t help either.

While that is true, and Google deserves are shaming they get for their terrible handling of DMCA, lets try to be real. Autoaccepting all DMCA takedown requests with zero verification is simplest and cheapest approach to be complaint. Failing to delete a file is tho only way to be on hook for any repercussions.

Re: Pollen tried to remove my article and Google is assisting with it

#17
Ah, yes, you know someone's desperate when you see a bogus DMCA claim like this. Not the first time this happened and definitely won't be the last.

This also demonstrates why it is bad for a law to mandate private entities to do moderation, in this case taking down copyright infringement materials when reported. Google, like basically all big platforms, doesn't care if a claim is fraudulent because the parties impacted cannot hold it accountable — google will just tell you they are themselves victims of the fraudulent claim. And to be fair, they are. But it has to enforce the claims or else lose its safe harbor exemption. This practically allows bad actors to use platforms as their shields, and in the end no one but the victim suffers any consequences for their abuse of the copyright laws.

I think a more sane approach would to require every copyright takedown to require a court order. Granted, the legal system is not perfect, but judges are not incentivized to always side with the supposed copyright holder like online platforms do. They will not be letting someone claiming to be living on a deserted island to file a claim and even when fraud does occur, they will at least know where the claim is actually coming from and be able to punish the fraudster accordingly.

Re: Pollen tried to remove my article and Google is assisting with it

#18
post #14

> Negus-Fancey I have seen that posh double-barreled surname before: Charles and Cathy Negus-Fancey were the managers of the reclusive cult musician Scott Walker and his interface to the world. Any close relation?

Charles Negus-Fancey is Callum Negus-Fancey’s father. Charles Negus-Fancey’s father was Edwin Fancey, a British film producer and distributor.

Re: Pollen tried to remove my article and Google is assisting with it

#19
post #17

Ah, yes, you know someone's desperate when you see a bogus DMCA claim like this. Not the first time this happened and definitely won't be the last. This also demonstrates why it is bad for a law to mandate private entities to do moderation, in this case taking down copyright infringement materials when reported. Google, like basically all big platforms, doesn't care if a claim is fraudulent because the parties impact…

1)The legal system is not fast. 2) which jurisdiction should have the right to ask the judge to take down the material?

Re: Pollen tried to remove my article and Google is assisting with it

#20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do they even?

> So imagine my surprise when I was notified that Google removed the article from its search results You know you can just read the linked articles, right? Edit: parent has edited their post, it used to say something like "google has never notified anyone about such things".

[deleted]
Post reply on HN