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upstart [soylentnews.org] writes:

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Google Nixes ‘Downloader’ App From Store After DMCA Says Its Browser Can Get To Piracy Sites [techdirt.com]:

Google Nixes ‘Downloader’ App From Store After DMCA Says Its Browser Can Get To Piracy Sites

Copyright [techdirt.com]

from the bye-bye-browsers! dept

As anyone who reads this site regularly will know, DMCA abuse [techdirt.com] happens all the time. Typically you see this sort of thing resulting from clear attempts to hobble a competitor, or to silence content someone doesn’t want to see, or pure trolling for the purposes of producing mayhem. But we also see this kind of “abuse” stemming from entities, foreign and domestic, that simply don’t know the strictures under which DMCA and copyright law actually operate.

A potential example of this would be what just happened to an app called “Downloader,” which was bounced from the Google Play store after a DMCA notice from a law firm [arstechnica.com] representing several Israeli television organizations. The app’s creator, Elias Saba, shared the details of the notice Google sent to him, as well as his confusion over why any of this is happening, given what his app actually is and does.

“You can see in the DMCA description portion that the only reason given is the app being able to load a website,” Saba told Ars. “My app is a utility app that combines a basic file manager and a basic web browser. There is no way to view content in the app other than to use the web browser to navigate to a website. The app also doesn’t present or direct users to any website, other than my blog at www.aftvnews.com [aftvnews.com], which loads as the default homepage in the web browser.”

Saba also detailed his frustrations with the takedown in a blog post [aftvnews.com] and a series of tweets [twitter.com]. “Any rational person would agree that you can’t possibly blame a web browser for the pirated content that exists on the Internet, but that is exactly what has happened to my app,” he wrote on his blog.

He follows up in a later comment with the exact question I would have: if “Downloader” is going to be nixed from the Play Store, then so should every other browser application in the store. Like, oh I don’t know, Google Chrome. After all, if Chrome can get to that site, and it can, then the same complaint can be lodged against Chrome.

And whether this is simple ignorance or true DMCA fraud, the fact is that none of this makes sense from a DMCA perspective. And, yet:

Saba said he filed appeals on Friday through the Google Play Console and Google’s DMCA counter notification form [google.com]. Saba’s Google Play Console appeal was rejected within about an hour, but he’s still waiting for a response to the appeal filed via Google’s DMCA counter notification form, he told Ars today.

“We’ve reviewed your appeal request but we’re still unable to reinstate your app,” the Google Play appeal rejection notice said on Friday.

My wild guess is that once an actual conversation happens between Saba and Google so that he can explain what his app actually does, it will be reinstated. The app is still in a published state on other stores, such as for the Amazon FireTV. There is absolutely no reason it should have been delisted from the Play Store.

Filed Under: app store [techdirt.com], copyright [techdirt.com], dmca [techdirt.com], downloader [techdirt.com], elias saba [techdirt.com], google play [techdirt.com], play store [techdirt.com]
Companies: google [techdirt.com]

try-not-to-sprain-something-while-overreaching dept.

Original Submission