Another Convicted Fraudster Attempts To Manage His Reputation With Bogus DMCA Takedown Notices

from the notreallyhowthatworks.gov dept

Say, folks: has this ever happened to you? You're performing vanity searches via your favorite search engine and wouldn't you know it, it keeps bringing up news reports and government press releases about your involvement in widespread city pension corruption?

It could happen to any of us. But what can you do about it? It seems like nothing can make the internet forget. What if I told you a simple online tool could fix this for you… GUARANTEED!*

*Not a guarantee. Offer not valid in the United States.

DMCA notices, folks! It's what gets stuff done. Let's follow along with convicted investment advisor Chauncey Mayfield as he attempts to reclaim his search engine results from dozens of news websites, the FBI, the DOJ, and Wikipedia.

Copyright claim #1

KIND OF WORK:
Unspecified

DESCRIPTION:
I am a well respected person in the society that I come from, the US, and other parts of the world where I am known as an author or high net worth investor in private equity and real estate. However, recently, there are a number of websites that utilize my image to attract traction for people go through their content. My images and name can be seen at these websites. We want google to remove such sites from the search. Thanks.

Soooooo…

First off, "well-respected" may be a term of art I'm not familiar with, but being a participant in the rampant misuse of public funds would seem to undercut that claim, even when extended to "other parts of the world."

Second, the use of "your image" isn't infringement, even if these sites were using your image. But almost none of the 200+ URLs listed in Mayfield's bogus DMCA notices make use of any images of him. Certainly the FBI's doesn't. All it contains is Mayfield's guilty plea and more details about the bribery, extortion, and misuse of public funds by a number of Detroit public officials.

Whatever "attention" is being "tractioned" by stories about criminal activity by city employees doesn't rely on "images" Mayfield might possibly own. Chauncey Mayfield is a key player in the scenarios depicted by the articles he wants delisted. As the CEO of MayfieldGentry, he was apparently instrumental in securing the city's pension fund management contract through highly-questionable (and highly-illegal) means before sinking a few million into a failed shopping mall investment that led to the investigation of the city's fund management.

Unsurprisingly, Google has refused to delist any of the URLs submitted by the "highly respected" Chauncey Mayfield under the name of "Portfolio Property Management Global, LLC." I'm sure finding so many articles about your involvement in bribery, extortion, and mismanagement of a city's pension fund ruins vanity searches and makes people hesitant to do business with you, but that's nothing that can be solved by abusing the DMCA takedown system. If anything, it makes you look even more shady than the search results would suggest.

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Filed Under: censorship, chauncey mayfield, detroit, dmca, doj, fbi, takedowns
Companies: google, mayfieldgentry


Reader Comments

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  1. icon
    Ninja (profile), 7 May 2018 @ 12:53pm

    Lousy crook gets convicted for something. Several years later tries to erase stuff from the internet via shady means. Streisand ensues. Classic DMCA abuse plot line. Quite fun to watch even if the result is pretty much the same every time.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    That One Guy (profile), 7 May 2018 @ 1:02pm

    'They loved me... right until they learned about me.'

    I am a well respected person in the society that I come from, the US, and other parts of the world where I am known as an author or high net worth investor in private equity and real estate. However, recently, there are a number of websites that utilize my image to attract traction for people go through their content. My images and name can be seen at these websites. We want google to remove such sites from the search. Thanks.

    Translation: 'I can get people to respect me so long as they're not able to do any research on my history. I would really like it if you could keep them from being able to do that. Thanks.'

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 May 2018 @ 2:07pm

    Don't worry. Abusing the DMCA to silence speech will become a thing of the past once the GDPR comes into effect and people start using *that* to silence speech (as intended).

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 May 2018 @ 2:12pm

    Here's the foolproof way to avoid negative search results AND thr Streisand Effect...

    Don't do stupid shit.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Pixelation, 7 May 2018 @ 2:25pm

    Um, what?

    "there are a number of websites that utilize my image to attract traction for people go through their content."

    I need to be put in traction, I laughed so hard I threw my back out.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 May 2018 @ 3:16pm

    Likely the only reason the takedown demands failed was because he was making such a bold claim, basically accusing the US federal government of breaking the law, and Google predictable applied it's own version of Twitter's "Trump Exception" privilege. Had those copyright claims been against Joe Schmo's Bittorrent Board, it's probable that Google would have instantly deleted them without batting an eye.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. icon
    afn29129 (profile), 7 May 2018 @ 6:03pm

    Streisand bites you on the ass.

    Streisand bites you on the ass.

    Thank for exposing yourself Mayfield. I hadn't heard of you before I sure know about you now. Bravo! A job well done.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 7 May 2018 @ 6:25pm

    out_of_the_blue's heroes, ladies and gentlemen!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. icon
    That Anonymous Coward (profile), 7 May 2018 @ 7:21pm

    This was almost as awesome as Craig "revenge porn idiot" Brittan and his 'the charges the government published about me is part of my novel' takedowns.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    AC, 8 May 2018 @ 6:45am

    Wait, this ISN'T about Kim 'Dotcom'?

    Oh, right! He's the kind of convicted fraudster we like here. How silly of me.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 May 2018 @ 8:27am

    Re: Wait, this ISN'T about Kim 'Dotcom'?

    Regardless of peesonal opinions ob the man, he has not yet been tried so he is not yet convicted.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. icon
    DannyB (profile), 8 May 2018 @ 8:41am

    Re: 'They loved me... right until they learned about me.'

    A hypothetical notice.

    KIND OF WORK:

    work? what's that?

    DESCRIPTION:

    I am a well respected person in the society that I come from, the US, and other parts of the world where I am known as a crook or highly experienced fraudster in bribery, corruption and misuse of public pension funds. However, recently, there are a number of websites that point out my misdeeds. But not those I victimized. We want google (but not other search engines) to remove such sites from the search. Whaaaaaaa! Waaaaah! (sniff).

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    AC, 8 May 2018 @ 9:34am

    Re: Re: Wait, this ISN'T about Kim 'Dotcom'?

    He has previously been convicted of fraud-related crimes (identity theft, etc) in Germany.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 May 2018 @ 4:42pm

    Re: Re: Re: Wait, this ISN'T about Kim 'Dotcom'?

    Well... you tried.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 8 May 2018 @ 9:11pm

    Re: Re: Re: Wait, this ISN'T about Kim 'Dotcom'?

    You try so hard, out_of_the_blue.

    Here, have a DMCA vote. Or should that be a SESTA vote?

    link to this | view in thread ]


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