Bogus DMCA Notices Nearly Delete Cyberlocker From Google

from the what-happens-when-you-let-others-mess-with-search-results dept

The legacy players in the entertainment industry, led by the MPAA and the RIAA have been trying to get the right to edit search results on various search engines for years, under the bogus belief that if people didn't get search results linking them to infringing files, they'd suddenly start spending more money on entertainment. As we've explained in detail, it's not nearly as easy as some people think to simply demote "bad" sites will promoting "good" sites. Even with a long list of reasons why such a plan won't work, Google (alone among the search engines) has actually been trying to implement something along these lines. And, exactly as we've warned, caving to the demands of the legacy entertainment industry never works. For them, it's never enough, as they'll continue to whine and complain until search engines have magically brought us back to 1982.

And there are real dangers when you effectively let third parties "edit" or "shape" Google's results as they see fit. TorrentFreak recently highlighted a good example of this, as the cyberlocker RapidGator discovered that it's basically been almost entirely delisted from Google because of DMCA notices. RapidGator already blocks Google from indexing the files hosted on its site -- so even if some users of the service post infringing files, they wouldn't have appeared in Google anyway. As the article notes, copyright holders apparently sent Google DMCA takedowns on links that weren't even in Google's index in the first place. But, more importantly, the pages that were in Google's index were clearly non-infringing, including things like the site's front page or details about the site and the services it offers.

The end result is that Google has taken RapidGator almost entirely out of the Google index. As the company states, the same thing could easily happen to a more high profile or "mainstream" cyberlocker like Dropbox. Just get enough DMCA notices -- legitimate or not -- and thanks to pressure from the entertainment industry, the "results" pages on Google get effectively edited by the legacy entertainment industry. I wonder how long it will take until other industries demand similar rights....

Filed Under: copyright, cyberlocker, dmca, search results, takedowns
Companies: google, mpaa, rapidgator, riaa

Italian Court Overturns Seizure Of Cyberlocker Rapidgator

from the big-news dept

In April we wrote about how Italian law enforcement had blocked over two dozen websites after the industry claimed they were responsible for copyright infringement. There was no trial, no adversarial hearing where the sites were able to defend themselves. Just: entertainment industry complains, law enforcement buys the complaints, tells a judge and boom, site gone. One of the cyberlockers blocked in this effort, Rapidgator, challenged this blockade, and it has quickly won a reversal. Rapidgator's lawyer, Fulvio Sarzana, was kind enough to send us the details, and it appears the court understood why the initial blockade was hugely problematic.

The court overturned the ruling that came out of the investigation, and made a few key points, according to Sarzana. He said that court ruled that cyberlockers are legitimate if they have a notice and takedown system, and that the owner of the site is not liable for infringements done by users (basic secondary liability protections). It also said that the seizure of an entire site goes "against the principles of reasonableness, proportionality and adequacy."

Unfortunately, the ruling only applies to Rapidgator, since it was the only one who hired a lawyer in Italy and appealed. In response to the ruling Sarzana issued the following statement:

The copyright holders contend that the only way in which they can obtain effective relief to prevent, or at least reduce infringements of their copyrights is by means of an order against ISPs. But this is stupid since the concerns about over-blocking, and ease of circumvention are widely recognized. Blocking through the ISPs is not a silver bullet to stop web copyright infringement. It is, in fact, a way to balkanize the web.

Having strong secondary liability protections, as well as basic due process before blocking access to sites would be a huge step in the right direction, so it's good to see an Italian court recognize these basic principles.

Filed Under: copyright, cyberlockers, due process, italy, secondary liability, seizures
Companies: rapidgator