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Google Publicizes DMCA Takedowns

Posted by michael on from the sunlight-is-best-medicine dept.

dmarti writes "In an apparent response to criticism of its handling of a threatening letter from a Church of Scientology lawyer, the popular search engine Google has begun to make so-called "takedown" letters public. DMCA-censored pages are now two clicks and a cut-and-paste away from the regular search results."

4 of 341 comments (clear)

  1. Go Oogle! by Mr_Perl · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Thanks to a bright suggestion, I and probably lots of others have started linking to scientology to help bump xenu.net up in the search engine listings.

    It's now number 2 in the rankings which is 3 spots higher than a few weeks ago so perhaps this small form of protest is also working!

    --

    My poetry site welcomes the unusual.
  2. Re:Soo.... by Crash+Culligan · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Google merely posted a link to a copy of the church's DMCA warning letter, which itself links to a list of the "offending" links.

    That makes the DCMA warning letter itself a sort of circumvention device.

    Ahhhhh, sweet irony...

    --
    You cannot truly appreciate Dilbert until you read it in the original Klingon.
  3. What about searches coming from Canada? by Dick+Click · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Hmm. I have read a search for "site:xenu.net scientology" links to the takedown letters. When I try this search, the first hit is www.xenu.net. I wonder if this is because I am redirected to www.google.ca? Anybody have any idea if a search coming from Canada acts differently than a search coming from the US?

  4. It works, but who the hell searches like that? by mbauser2 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Don't search for "xenu.net Scientology", search for "site:xenu.net Scientology". You have to include the "site" keyword. The notice is at the bottom of the results page.

    I don't think many people are going to see these DMCA notifications, because I don't think that many people search this way. If they know a given site has information on a topic, most of them go straight to the site, don't they?

    --
    Proud to be / Smiley-free / Since Nineteen / Ninety-Three