Another Convicted Felon Tries To Use The DMCA Process To Erase DOJ Press Releases About His Criminal Acts

from the also:-PATENTS! dept

Looks like another convicted felon is abusing the DMCA process in hopes of cleansing the web of his misdeeds. Chad Hatten of Houston, Texas, was arrested on multiple counts related to ID theft and access device fraud. Hatten stole credit card numbers to buy gift cards to resell at a discount. He was indicted in 2005 and sentenced to 66 months in prison in 2006.

Now that Hatten is (presumably) no longer behind bars, he's been doing a little DIY SEO work. His first attempts to get the DOJ's press releases delisted by Google occurred in 2012, which would line up with the termination of his sentence.

In his first two attempts -- both filed under "music" -- it appears a third-party link removal service failed to achieve Hatten's objectives.

These links are lsited as blocked , when using the URL removal tool, yet continue to appear in search results.

The link targeted was the DOJ's press release announcing Hatten's indictment. His second 2012 DMCA targets the announcement of his conviction.

The links targeted in 2012 have since rotted away, which perhaps explains the six-year gap between Hatten's removal efforts. The targeted releases have since resurfaced with new URLs. So has Chad Hatten. This time he's brought... someone else's patents? And warnings of impending violence.

protected work. Additionally, the high page rank of this result places lives at stake. Please at least manually lower this result. Someone could die as a result of this appearing so high.

More detail on the DOJ's deadly press releases can be found in yet another Hatten takedown attempt -- one that also includes someone else's patents as the supposed "original work" being infringed.

If anyone actually reads this, this link is 12 years old, and is ruining my life. It is placing my safety at risk. Please either remove this, or manually lower the page rank. I could die as a result of this link.

If it's difficult to discern why a publicly-posted press release might be viewed as potentially deadly, it's even more difficult to comprehend the inclusion of someone else's patents in the DMCA takedown notice. And yet, that's what Houston's Chad Hatten has done. He's dragged along someone else he found in his frantic vanity searches in hopes that their intellectual property will somehow push his bogus takedowns past Google's spot checkers.

This is the so-called "original URL" listed in Hatten's request:

http://google.com/patents/WO2016007659A1?cl=no

While there may be those engaged in credit card theft who dabble in chemistry from time to time, it's highly doubtful the convicted Chad Hatten is also the inventor Chad Hatten, employed by Illinois-based energy company, Coskata Inc. It's also doubtful Chad Hatten the DMCA abuser could explain the following in layman's terms:

Processes for controlling the concentration of co-produced oxygenated organics in anaerobic fermentation broths for the bioconversion of syngas to product oxygenated organic compound

And, even if it was Hatten's (the convict's) patent, a DMCA notice has nothing to do with patents and would never be able to stop this sort of infringement no matter how many URLs it delisted.

But wait! There's (one) more!

Hatten also engages in the more expected form of DMCA abuse: fraudulently claiming information he wants delisted is actually his own creation. Targeted by this DMCA notice is a PDF of Hatten's unsuccessful appeal of his conviction, as rejected by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

According to Hatten's DMCA, the federal appeals court decision is "my writing." Proof of Hatten's "creation" supposedly can be found at joemoore.com (listed as "Original URL"), a URL which automatically redirects to Joe Moore's IMDb page… as it has since 2013. (The first few years of that URL's history are very different from its current incarnation as a promotional redirect for a second unit director. [But SFW.])

None of this represents how the system is supposed to work. But all of it demonstrates how easy it is to abuse. Google tends to vet DMCA notices pretty well, but it's unclear if other search engines are as attentive. Of course, to many people Google represents The Internet, so hitting up Google with bogus takedown notices is the only stop they'll ever make. Chad Hatten's attempts have fallen short of his DIY right-to-be-forgotten goal, but there's plenty of evidence out there that the DCMA process works just well enough (in terms of abuse) that it's always worth a try.

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Filed Under: censorship, chad hatten, copyright, dmca, doj, press release, takedowns
Companies: google


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  1. identicon
    I.T. Guy, 10 Jan 2017 @ 12:06pm

    The question is... Did Chad Hatton use Chad Hatton?

    http://www.yellowpages.com/houston-tx/mip/chad-hatten-seo-468101684

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    I.T. Guy, 10 Jan 2017 @ 12:14pm

    Re:

    Hatten.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    That Anonymous Coward (profile), 10 Jan 2017 @ 12:21pm

    He wasn't very good at stealing credit cards & seems to be just as good at abusing the DMCA.

    Imagine my shock to find him on rip-off report & 2 responses with the same name 1 claiming to have used his services, the other claiming to be an employee...

    He's very good at the SEO.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 10 Jan 2017 @ 1:35pm

    Out of body experience

    I have this vision of this guy as Keanue Reeves from the Matrix now...

    "I know DMCA..."

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    wereisjessicahyde (profile), 10 Jan 2017 @ 1:52pm

    Re:

    He's here if you ever need his erm.. services.

    https://www.yelp.com/biz/chad-hatten-advisors-houston

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. icon
    Roger Strong (profile), 10 Jan 2017 @ 2:23pm

    it's highly doubtful the convicted Chad Hatten is also the inventor Chad Hatten,

    Well. Unless he claims to have invented email.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. icon
    K`Tetch (profile), 10 Jan 2017 @ 8:00pm

    Wrong lawyer

    Everyone knows in a case like this, you need to use Charles Harder and sue for defamation.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Pixelation, 10 Jan 2017 @ 10:46pm

    Great criminal name

    The Mad Hatten! FTW.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 11 Jan 2017 @ 1:30am

    Re:

    Haha!

    He needs to take his ego and 2nd rate moral compass out of IT. Perhaps he should give politics a shot.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. icon
    Ninja (profile), 11 Jan 2017 @ 4:54am

    Another day, another glaring example of copyright being used to censor. Anomalies I tell you.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 11 Jan 2017 @ 6:33am

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. icon
    JustMe (profile), 11 Jan 2017 @ 8:39am

    Ohh! This is my favorite game!

    I'm reading where Chad Hatten is trying to abuse the DMCA process to hide his criminal convictions for ID theft and access device fraud.

    I also personally think it is pretty scummy of Chad Hatten to pretend to be the noted inventor Chad Hatten (who seems to be a good egg), and misuse the DMCA process but that's pretty much on-par for this felon. And make no mistake, he is a felon, having resided in a federal penal institution after pleading guilty to ID theft and access device fraud. If Chad Hatten is upset that HIS OWN ACTIONS are placing his life at-risk, then perhaps he shouldn't have decided to perform ID theft and access device fraud. It isn't the page rank of the results that caused this Chad my-boy, it was you.

    You too can read about Chad Hatten's criminal past (a known fact, since he pled* guilty). These links show you that Chad Hatten has criminal convictions for ID theft and access device fraud.

    https://web.archive.org/web/20140218014236/http://www.justice.gov:80/criminal/cybercrime/press-relea ses/2005/hattenPlea.htm

    https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2005/November/05_crm_582.html

    https://w ww.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2006/July/06_crm_424.html

    http://digitalcommons.law.villanova.edu/cgi/v iewcontent.cgi?article=1626&context=thirdcircuit_2009

    Again, view the links above for information about Chad Hatten and his criminal convictions for ID theft and access device fraud.

    * www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/solosez/PleadedVsPled.pdf


    Chad Hatten criminal convictions ID theft and access device fraud

    Chad Hatten criminal convictions ID theft and access device fraud

    Chad Hatten criminal convictions ID theft and access device fraud


    No known relation to the innocent victim and noted "good guy" in this story, the inventor Chad Hatten, employed by an Illinois-based energy company.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Warrenville, 11 Jan 2017 @ 9:07pm

    The Good, Honest Chad Hatten

    I know the inventor Chad Hatten and he is a very good, smart, honest man; he is not a felon and he has never lived in Houston.

    link to this | view in thread ]


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