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posted by cmn32480 on Thursday September 10 2015, @07:23PM   Printer-friendly
from the whack-a-mole dept.

TorrentFreak reports

In a single week (beginning August 18, 2015) Google processed a mind-boggling 13,685,322 allegedly infringing URLs. That's almost 23 copyright complaints handled by the search giant every single second--or 100 URLs in the time it took to read this sentence.

In the most recently reported month, 5,991 copyright holders and 2,683 reporting organizations requested the removal of 55,702,393 URLs from 80,256 domains.

The most complained about services were all file-hosting sites including Chomikuj.pl (1,089,458 URLs), Rapidgator.net (711,175), and Uploaded.net (664,299).

[...] Two [...] sets of circumstances are undoubtedly inflating the figures reported by Google. Interestingly, they're both a direct result of copyright holder actions.

While domain takedowns have inconvenienced several large sites in recent times, those affected are increasingly using multiple domains to mitigate the problem. It's a strategy now being employed by many of the leading torrent sites--cut one head from the hydra and another appears, as the saying goes.

[...] Another big issue is caused by site blocking. Again taking The Pirate Bay as an example, there are now dozens if not hundreds of active proxies, mirrors, and clones, each of which attract their own sets of takedown demands.

[...] The tide of notices being sent to Google [...] [appears] to be having almost no effect on content availability. All popular movies and music tracks remain just a few clicks away. Let's not forget, Google takes down links to content, not the content itself.


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  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday September 10 2015, @08:19PM

    by takyon (881) <{takyon} {at} {soylentnews.org}> on Thursday September 10 2015, @08:19PM (#234887) Journal

    There is no viable disincentive that would discourage inaccurate DMCA takedown notices.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by edIII on Thursday September 10 2015, @08:50PM

    by edIII (791) on Thursday September 10 2015, @08:50PM (#234906)

    With respect, there are sure as hell is:

    $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

    If that don't work...... set a misdemeanor jail term of 90 days if you exceed X number of false or inaccurate reports per period. This also means that a bot cannot actually be responsible for a takedown request. It will require *somebody's* name on the request that can be physically put in jail if necessary.

    Let me put it this way: I could file all kinds of false requests (egregiously false requests at that), and the moment I actually affected a major corporation... do you think I could continue? That's the real question. If no penalties can work, and it can be used disruptively on purpose, let's turn it on the big boys too.

    I wonder what would happen if all of the sudden Sony found a good percentage of their content unreachable with the same sort of head-firmly-shoved-up-ass shenanigans. Me thinks a viable disincentive would be sent my way rather quickly :)

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    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 10 2015, @10:17PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 10 2015, @10:17PM (#234945)

      > With respect, there are sure as hell is:

      None of that is part of the DMCA process.

      One day the law might be amended to include it - assuming the pro-DMCA forces are unable to bribe any such amendment to death - but as the law is today, there is no penalty and no cost.

  • (Score: 1, Disagree) by M. Baranczak on Thursday September 10 2015, @09:43PM

    by M. Baranczak (1673) on Thursday September 10 2015, @09:43PM (#234923)
    Of course there is. It's already part of the DMCA: it requires people to swear under penalty of perjury that the takedown request is legit. The problem is that this part isn't being enforced. Even a modest fine for bogus requests would be a big step forward.
    • (Score: 5, Informative) by draconx on Thursday September 10 2015, @10:18PM

      by draconx (4649) on Thursday September 10 2015, @10:18PM (#234947)

      Of course there is. It's already part of the DMCA: it requires people to swear under penalty of perjury that the takedown request is legit. The problem is that this part isn't being enforced. Even a modest fine for bogus requests would be a big step forward.

      What the statute actually says is that the notice contain (among other things, mostly identification of people and works) the following:

      “(v) A statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.

      “(vi) A statement that the information in the notification is accurate, and under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

      It seems like a pretty low bar to meet, as long as your notice is internally consistent, not blatantly false, and you only make claims regarding your own copyrights. The complaining party doesn't actually have to put in any effort to determine that the alleged infringement actually happened. For example:

      "We believe that work XYZ infringes on the copyright of Freddy the Rat because our magic 8 ball said so. We have a good faith belief that incorporating Freddy the Rat images into XYZ was not authorized by the copyright holder. The information in this notice is accurate, and we are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright holder of Freddy the Rat."