DMCA Copyright Complaint to Google • Hacker News Board

Re: DMCA Copyright Complaint to Google

#21

Post by userbinator » Wed, Jan 07, 2015, 3:18 AM UTC

dbaupp wrote: post #4

This removes a variety of projects from Google search results, including ones from Mozilla (specifically, Rust), Facebook, Yahoo, Netflix, openSUSE, as well as github documentation, e.g. - https://github.com/yahoo/pure - https://github.com/rust-lang/cargo - https://github.com/openSUSE/wicked - https://github.com/Netflix/Lipstick - https://github.com/facebook/rebound - https://help.github.com/articles/dealing-with-non…

It looks like everything with "wicked", "pushover", "knockout", "lipstick", and other keywords are being targeted. Clearly the work of an automated process and not a human.

One of the more amusing URLs that caught my attention is a link to a torrent search site with the query being a single, very generic keyword: "girl". Presumably the results of that search include content they want to remove, so it also got hit.

Re: DMCA Copyright Complaint to Google

#22

Post by Natsu » Wed, Jan 07, 2015, 3:19 AM UTC

eli wrote: post #12

sambo_long wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if a bunch of these companies might get together and sue the sender of take down for defamation, loss of business, something.

Knowingly filing a false takedown is a crime, but it's pretty hard to prove. This isn't really defamation.

It's supposed to be perjury if they pretend to represent a work they do not, in fact, own. So if I falsely claim that I own Harry Potter and go file DMCA notices, I should get busted. But if I claim that something I actually do own the copyright on is infringed by something that clearly isn't infringing... well, there's nothing in the DMCA penalizing that.

In theory there might be some other claim against a person filing bogus DMCA notices, but given that people have been spamming half-bogus notices like this for years now, I'm not really holding my breath. I guess there have been a few that got in a little trouble, but not much. If they get in trouble it's usually for something bigger.

Re: DMCA Copyright Complaint to Google

#23

Post by sfeng » Wed, Jan 07, 2015, 3:20 AM UTC

shakethemonkey wrote: post #16

ghuntley wrote: post #6

Have submitted a counter-complaint (#2-4109000005746) for the following: # curl https://www.chillingeffects.org/notices/10275257 | grep github https://help.github.com/articles/dealing-with-non-fast-forward-errors/ https://github.com/Zizzamia/ng-tasty https://github.com/zen-kernel/zen-kernel https://github.com/yahoo/pure/releases/ https://github.com/yahoo/pure https://github.com/YabataDesign/afterglow-theme https://gi…

Google should raise the bar for those who abuse the DMCA system like this. Maybe require submissions to be in writing, and notarized.

There's a very specific procedure they have to follow outlined in the DMCA law.

Re: DMCA Copyright Complaint to Google

#24

Post by bossmojoman » Wed, Jan 07, 2015, 3:22 AM UTC

I hear that https://help.github.com/articles/dealing-with-non-fast-forwa... is pretty hot.

Re: DMCA Copyright Complaint to Google

#25

Post by Natsu » Wed, Jan 07, 2015, 3:24 AM UTC

personjerry wrote: post #8

How the hell does https://help.github.com/articles/dealing-with-non-fast-forwa... relate to their movies? Why are they allowed to take down sites so obviously unrelated? I imagine it's pretty easy to use this sort of takedown in a malicious manner to remove competitors' sites, surely there is some defense mechanism against this?

> How the hell does https://help.github.com/articles/dealing-with-non-fast-forwa.... relate to their movies?

It doesn't. This outfit, per Chilling Effect's search, pumps out notices by the hundreds. Most likely they use some script or tool to grab a bunch of URLs from various Google searches, then dump them into a form letter. I'm not sure if anyone was supposed to weed out the obviously bogus output, but I think we can all see that nothing of the sort happened.

They churn these out fast enough that nobody is actually paying any real attention to what they're doing from what I've seen.

Re: DMCA Copyright Complaint to Google

#26

Post by Buge » Wed, Jan 07, 2015, 3:29 AM UTC

lukesandberg wrote: post #11

http://www.google.com/transparencyreport/removals/copyright/... That page shows all the dmca requests to google that target github.com. Wicked pictures shows up in a number of requests but they are by no means the only copyright holder issuing requests. You can click through to the request pages and get links to chilling effects and it will also tell you which URLs were requested that were _not_ taken down. ChillingE…

So Google removed them all except 3? That seems pretty bad.

Re: DMCA Copyright Complaint to Google

#27

Post by Doji » Wed, Jan 07, 2015, 3:33 AM UTC

This chillingeffects site is quite fascinating. There seem to be a _lot_ of instances of completely mistaken and reckless DMCA takedowns. Here's a particularly absurd one:

https://www.chillingeffects.org/notices/1148744

I'm not sure a single URL in that list is actually infringing. The only thing they seem to have in common is the name "Adam".

Re: DMCA Copyright Complaint to Google

#28

Post by markbao » Wed, Jan 07, 2015, 3:38 AM UTC

Presumably, Takedown Piracy LLC and their client would have to have signed the Sworn Statements on Google's DMCA page [0]:

    I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted 
    materials described above as allegedly infringing is not 
    authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.

    The information in this notification is accurate and I 
    swear, under penalty of perjury, that I am the copyright 
    owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an 
    exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Is there any recourse or punishment for falsely submitting a DMCA takedown request for content that is actually not under their copyright?

[0] https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/dmca-notice?rd=1

Re: DMCA Copyright Complaint to Google

#29

Post by chii » Wed, Jan 07, 2015, 3:40 AM UTC

userbinator wrote: post #21

dbaupp wrote: post #4

This removes a variety of projects from Google search results, including ones from Mozilla (specifically, Rust), Facebook, Yahoo, Netflix, openSUSE, as well as github documentation, e.g. - https://github.com/yahoo/pure - https://github.com/rust-lang/cargo - https://github.com/openSUSE/wicked - https://github.com/Netflix/Lipstick - https://github.com/facebook/rebound - https://help.github.com/articles/dealing-with-non…

It looks like everything with "wicked", "pushover", "knockout", "lipstick", and other keywords are being targeted. Clearly the work of an automated process and not a human. One of the more amusing URLs that caught my attention is a link to a torrent search site with the query being a single, very generic keyword: "girl". Presumably the results of that search include content they want to remove, so it also got hit.

there really should be a penalty for issuing illegitimate dmca takedowns (beyond some reasonably number - so you don't get scared to do it).

Re: DMCA Copyright Complaint to Google

#30

Post by mcantelon » Wed, Jan 07, 2015, 3:41 AM UTC

Doji wrote: post #27

This chillingeffects site is quite fascinating. There seem to be a _lot_ of instances of completely mistaken and reckless DMCA takedowns. Here's a particularly absurd one: https://www.chillingeffects.org/notices/1148744 I'm not sure a single URL in that list is actually infringing. The only thing they seem to have in common is the name "Adam".

So one could file a bogus takedown for a competitor's website, etc. Ugh.