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Google Removes Links in Response to DMCA Complaint

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the now-thats-just-scary dept.

dioscaido writes "If you search Google for Kazaa Lite, you'll find the results a bit lacking. Ironically enough, Sharman Networks, using the DMCA, filed a legal complaint to block Kazaa Lite sites. " Google links the DMCA request at the end of the results which contain the URLs in question, but the URLs aren't really the point. It's scary that the DMCA makes URLs a copyright violation. How long before libraries can't index books? Or own them?

39 of 495 comments (clear)

  1. Ironic by heironymouscoward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    KazaaLite is a hack of Kazaa, and thus blatant piracy. But Kazaa itself is dubious stuff, filled with spyware. Sigh. Perhaps we will see a version of KazaaLite distributed through Kazaa?

    --
    Ceci n'est pas une signature
    1. Re:Ironic by SnowWolf2003 · · Score: 5, Informative

      When I installed the latest version of KazaaLite it automatically copied the installation file into my shared folder. Just search for klitekpp242e.exe on Kazaa.

    2. Re:Ironic by King_TJ · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm not even sure I'd classify Kaaza Lite as "clearly crooked" myself, much less "blatant piracy".

      Here's why I say that:

      Kaaza Lite was an attempt to "de-louse" all the spyware bundled up into Kaaza. If it was truly a piracy attempt (hijaacking someone else's code), they would have changed the name of the software and played things off like it was their own original work. None of this seems to be the case. In fact, every reference to Kaaza Lite I've seen makes it pretty clear that it, indeed, *is* the Kaaza software, except cleaned up so it won't fill your computer with unwanted "extras".

    3. Re:Ironic by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I believe that Sharman Networks is attempting to sell a version of Kazaa called Kazaa plus, which is kazaa with new search and download features minus the banner ads and popups. Does this mean that it is spyware free? If so, then Kazaa lite is a threat to the sales of their "new and improved" software. Of course they are going to do what they can to cut off access to the hacked versions of their software.

    4. Re:Ironic by heironymouscoward · · Score: 4, Informative

      This may explain it.

      It may also explain why the latest release of KazaaLite is labelled "K++".

      As Jonathan Swift said:

      "So, naturalists observe, a flea
      Has smaller fleas that on him prey;
      And these have smaller still to bite 'em;
      And so proceed ad infinitum."

      --
      Ceci n'est pas une signature
    5. Re:Ironic by DickBreath · · Score: 4, Insightful

      KazaaLite is a hack of Kazaa, and thus blatant piracy.

      One obvious solution is to distribute a Kazaa Lite patcher that transforms a Kazaa into Kazaa Lite prior to installation. Now there is no copyright violation. Nobody is distributing even a patched version of Kazaa.

      Name this patcher program something completely different, without the word Kazaa in the name to eliminate trademark claims. Word of the patch would still spread just as it did for Kazaa Lite, and spread by the same mechanisms.

      --

      I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
  2. Priceless. by acceleriter · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A company whose entire business model is based on facilitating copyright infringement calls "Smithers, unleash the hounds" on Google over another company it believes is infringing its copyright.

    --

    CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.

    1. Re:Priceless. by aagren · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't get it. How would companies like Sherman Networks find sites to throw the DMCA at if it weren't for a site like google?

      If google decided not to cache any sites with the word 'kazaa' in it, I'm pretty sure that the users of it would find it anyhow, but the pointy haired suits at Sherman Networks would probably not find it as easely.

      Sounds to me like they are shooting themselves in the foot.

    2. Re:Priceless. by danila · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It's sad that Google decided not to do just that. Since they are under no obligation to index ANY sites, they could have just removed all pages that have high relevance on "kazaa" query. That would really send a message to the lawyers that you don't force search engines to filter results. Unfortunately, Google didn't do that and established an ugly precedent. It's good that they at least included the DMCA mention, but it's bad nevertheless. And it would be much better if the notice was at the top, on a bright red background, like a MEGA-SPONSORED link, so that noone could miss it. :) It would also be great if they listed in plain text the sites that they are prohibited from linking to. :) But alas, they were too frightened. :( I don't know why, because obviously, no sane judge would order Google to close, no matter what...

      --
      Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
    3. Re:Priceless. by cyberformer · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The precedent is that Google will take down links under threat of DMCA, not a legal one. However, that precedent was actually set a long time ago, by the "Church" of Scientology demanding that Google stop linking to Xenu.net. (There may have been evene earlier cases with Google and DCMA, but that's the big one.)

      In the CoS/Xenu case, Google didn't stop indexing Scientology altogether; they just replaced the Xenu link with one to the DMCA notice. Following their own precedent, they have to do the same with Kazaa.

  3. strange... by di0s · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I thought Sharman Networks was incorporated in Australia. How can they use a foreign law like that?

    1. Re:strange... by C10H14N2 · · Score: 5, Informative

      The Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789 allows it.

      The act gives Federal jusidiction over "any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States." The ATCA can be used via proxy by non-US entities as long as they can establish some reasonable connection to a US entity, such as relatives (in the case of people) or parents/subsidiaries (in the case of companies). Since copyright is covered in numerous treaties, particularly the Berne Convention, it is open season.

  4. A bit lacking by Melex · · Score: 5, Funny

    How is 372 000 results a bit lacking

  5. Of course... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you search Google for Kazaa Lite, you'll find the results a bit lacking.

    Incidentally, if you search Kazaa Lite for pretty much anything other than Top 40's Radio or pr0n you get similar results.

  6. Not totally lacking... by st0rmshadow · · Score: 4, Funny

    I didn't try any of the links, but it looks like there's still a few download links. Of course, you could always go to www.kazaalitekpp.com to get it, anywa...oops, sorry DMCA.

  7. Uhm? by Richard_at_work · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How long before libraries can't index books? Or own them?

    Uhm, hasnt this already happened many many times in the past?

  8. Watch this site for further info on this takedown by MsGeek · · Score: 4, Informative
    http://www.chillingeffects.org/

    It's a good source for information on exactly this subject. No, I don't run it. ;-)

    --
    Knowledge is power. Knowledge shared is power multiplied.
  9. Same old same old by achurch · · Score: 4, Informative

    This has happened before. I don't think the DMCA complaint was very effective that time, either.

  10. Ironic by silverhalide · · Score: 4, Informative

    I thought the RIAA had a part in this, noticing references to Kazaa and DMCA. I find it a little unusual that Sharman had a part in it. Oddly enough the links are still quite available, and search results now point to K++ (a better Kazaa derivative), and the original links are still available. Seems almost like a "Screw you" gesture by google to Sharman if you ask me. Just goes to show that once the cat is out of the bag on the net, its almost impossible to recover it.

  11. It's time to put the DMCA to FAIR USE by Natchswing · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I think it's time that the online community to the responsible thing and take care of the DMCA. It's time for everyone to start drafting letters.

    Create a nice recording of some chimes, name it chimes.wav. Now, write letters to ISPs around the saying that someone with chimes.wav (a standard windows installed WAV file) is violating your copyright.

    If everyone on slashdot sends a dozen bogus requests, all around the same time, and completely flood the ISPs and halt their ability to respond to these requests then I think we'd see finally see an uproar of the problems this bill causes.

    The RIAA can send out bogus claims, why can't we help them make the DMCA so obnoxious that it must be stopped?

  12. What would possess them to do this? by ndnet · · Score: 4, Insightful

    While K++ does put a dent in their business model, why do this? It seems like a good idea, but has one fatal flaw:

    It legitimizes the suit against them.

    Think about it: in both Kazaa and Google, the method of infringement, if it exists, is the same: Allow search results that may or may not be pirated.

    By basically validating the complaint against them, they allow RIAA to argue the same point very easily, except in this case it is a blood-thirsty industry group instead of a small computer company.

    Oh, well... It doesn't matter, because the next filesharing tool will rise up fast.

  13. Google's downfall by SnowWolf2003 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Is this the beginning of the end? When google stops returning the results I am looking for, it is time to start looking for a new search engine that will.

    1. Re:Google's downfall by recursiv · · Score: 4, Interesting

      No, this isn't the end of anything. They link to the DMCA complaint, which gives all the URLs! Google, defiant as always. I fucking love google.

      --
      I used to bulls-eye womp-rats in my pants
  14. But it's still appearing in the Adwords!!! by donnacha · · Score: 5, Interesting


    This is hilarious:

    Before I even had a chance to scroll down the page to look at the DMCA message, I noticed that the Adwords are full of links to Kazaa Lite!

    I guess Google's financial team is a little tougher than their search team.

  15. Google for India also carries a DMCA notice. by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 4, Interesting


    It is interesting to note that the version of Google for India also carries a DMCA notice for Kazaa Lite. Does the U.S. government make worldwide law now? The DMCA is just a local law affecting less than 5% of the people in the world.

    1. Re:Google for India also carries a DMCA notice. by donnacha · · Score: 4, Funny


      Does the U.S. government make worldwide law now?

      Where have you been for the past two years?

  16. Re:And I'm just sure... by LostCluster · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Google's simply complying with the request and blocking the URLs that were validly mentioned in the takedown notice. However, Google's not going to do anything more than the law requires, so any new URLs that pop up will certainly get GoogleBot's attention and the cat and mouse game goes on...

  17. Re:DMCA ... by RonnyJ · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Unfortunately, the same message is displayed on the google.co.uk version, where the DCMA should have no effect - why can't they just have the restriction on the .com site?

  18. Meanwhile, outside Googleland... by Linker3000 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have just tried Kazaa Lite on various other search engines and meta search engines, and without fail they return at least one of the forbidden 8 sites that Google removes:

    Altavista

    Webcrawler

    Teoma

    Dogpile

    Obviously not a comprehensive effort (I have a 3yr old son to entertain right now and that's much more important!), but it leads to the conclusion that either the complainant thinks the world revolves around Google OR the other sites haven't checked their mail yet!

    As others have pointed out, the genie is out of the bottle and so semi-hiding the links is going to be pointless. I loved the written up DMCA complaint--putting the list of banned sites on it is kind of like having an English test question that says: Write down the correct spelling of following word: 'incomprehensible'? .

    --
    AT&ROFLMAO
  19. Re:Google 0wn3d by DMCA by acceleriter · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think Google is taking a practical approach to this. They're informing the user that the results have been censored, and then link to the letter containing the censored results. Methinks they're hoisting Sherman with their own petard--the Kazaa Lite folks couldn't have bought publicity this effective.

    --

    CEE5210S The signal SIGHUP was received.

  20. A different perspective... by Baron_Yam · · Score: 5, Funny

    Summary:Kazaa C&Ds Google, because it's easier than tracking down all the offending sites and C&Ding them individually. The justification for the C&D - Kazaa Lite is illegal, Google is providing easy access to Kazaa Lite.

    What if Google turned around and said, "Kazaa is using Google to facillitate tracking down sites infringing on its intellectual property. Please pay Google the following outrageous fee for legal research assistance."

    In my opinion, C&Ding a search engine is like trying to have a municipality remove street addresses from buildings containing businesses you don't like. It's just stupid.

  21. Re:DMCA ... by zmooc · · Score: 4, Informative

    Because the domain is owned by Google Inc, not by an English entity that could be held responsible. The same for the netblock. So it's effectively just an USAian site which happens to have a pointer to it that ends in co.uk.

    --
    0x or or snor perron?!
  22. What's funny... Read the complaint by ogre2112 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They list all the blocked links in the complaint, which google points to as a mention of why they blocked the sites:

    a. http://www.kazaagold.com
    b. http://mp3download.com
    c. http://www.kazaalite.tk
    d. http://www.kaaza.com
    e. http://doa2.host.sk
    f. http://www.k-lite.tk
    g. http://www.kazaa-file-sharing-downloads.com
    h. http://www.kazaalite.nl
    i. http://home/hccnet.nl/h.edskes/mirror.htm
    j. http://www.kazaa-download.de
    k. http://www.zeropaid.com
    l. http//www.kazaalite.nl/downloads.htm
    m. http://kazaa.infos-du-net.com
    n. http://www.kazaa-lite.tk
    o. http://www.kazaa-lite.info

    1. Re:What's funny... Read the complaint by Mwongozi · · Score: 4, Informative
      Only some of these URLs are actually useful for finding the Kazaa Lite software. The useful ones are:
    2. Re:What's funny... Read the complaint by WWWWolf · · Score: 5, Insightful

      What is interesting is that Google lists the sites that have been removed due to DMCA, yes. I first saw this in the case when the Church of Scientology tried to use DMCA to de-list pages critical to them.

      The effect is precisely not what the people who invoked DMCA wanted to happen, though.

      Google is basically saying "Okay, we would have shown you these sites, but we were told not to". And people are far more curious about seemingly forbidden knowledge =)

      Let us rejoice that Google still can tell that the sites were censored and is not required to act ignorant ("DMCA-delisted site? Where? We have no DMCA-delisted sites here, no sir, and if we did, they would be, after all, delisted!").

  23. Blue Ribbon by danila · · Score: 4, Informative

    It seems that once again it's time to place Blue ribbons on our websites and webpages...

    --
    Future Wiki -- If you don't think about the future, you cannot have one.
  24. Re:And I'm just sure... by MunchMunch · · Score: 4, Interesting
    "Google's simply complying with the request and blocking the URLs that were validly mentioned in the takedown notice."

    The funny thing is, I noticed they demanded one additional site to be taken down, in addition to all the Kazaa Lite hosts: www.zeropaid.com.

    I'm not sure what your definition of "valid" is, but I did a quick check over at the site, which is a file sharing news site, and there was no actual Kazaa Lite software onsite. Instead, the software download link pointed to one of the sites mentioned in the DMCA takedown demand. In other words, looks like they weren't just going after the biggest sites that had the software, but a site that even only linked to the software site. In otherwords Google had to remove a link to a link. I'd say that's going a bit far beyond what even the DMCA thinks is valid.

  25. thought police by dbc001 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Apparently there are pieces of information that Americans are not allowed to write down. We are definitely edging towards thought crime here. Between this and the illegality of writing virii (i know its spelled wrong but it looks better), we are on our way! I just wonder when someone will get punished for writing these things with pen & paper instead of electronically...

  26. Re:Really? by Guspaz · · Score: 4, Interesting

    You're forgetting that this is Canada... The DMCA has no effect here. Assuming your hosting is in Canada, you can simply send a reply telling gamespot that you are not under the jurisdiction of the DMCA, and that you will not be complying with their request.

    If your hosting is in the US... Well, then you're in a bit more of a bind. IANAL, but I'd suspect that while YOU are not liable, the American hosting company would be, and would be forced to remove the content from their servers.

    Of course, surely you chose Canadian web hosting to keep your dollars in the country, no? :p