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How The DMCA Affects Search Engines
An anonymous reader writes "Here is an interesting article regarding the application of the DMCA safe harbor provisions to search engines. This is what causes Google to remove links from its search results and to put a disclaimer at the bottom of the page stating "In response to a complaint we received under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed [x] result(s) from this page." The article is published in the Virginia Journal of Law and Technology, and there is a direct link to a pdf version of the article."
is that these links get extra attention.
For example, search for Kazaa Lite and look at the DMCA link at the bottom. The notice lists the URLs which they've had to remove.
Google's way of fighting the man?
Know why asian economies are leaping ahead by leaps and bounds? You just go out and do things, without millions of lawyers and others trying to leech of the whole business.
And if you thought that was boring you obviously havn't read my Journal ;-)
This seems backwards. Kazaa can search for "kazaa" on Google and find "non-kazaa" material, so they tell Google to take it down? Since when is the search engine responsible for the content they generate by just following links on the web (forgive me if I'm unfamiliar with how Google crawls the web)?
Why not send notices to the websites directly? Oh, wait, that would mean that they would have to spend the time and find the people who are actually "breaking" the copyrights and prosecute them directly. That's too much work.
It's the same thing that the RIAA is doing -- going after the end-user in court because it's easier that way. I wonder what happened to the racketeering charges that were brought up.
I just gotta love Google for this. They hide the results, but you can still access them. This means two things:
1. People are made aware of what the DMCA does
2. People from the Free World where the DMCA does not apply can still access the information
I still think prohibiting search engines from linking to certain materials is a bad idea, though.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
I'm sick of America being bullied around by the corporations. We are the people. We have the power here.
Fight with you pockets...and your _paper_ ballots (unless of course Diebold has their way with the government.)MY SECRET DIARIES
Police can't tell a newspaper that they cannot publish information, but they can tell them that they shouldn't and they can also threaten to deny any media-access rights that they don't have to give the paper but only do so out of courtesy.
And really, that's what a DMCA Takedown notice equates to... "We swear that we own the copyright to this and we want it taken down right away." The ISP doesn't have to comply, but they have to serve that notice to the user, or be liable for contributing to the infringment. They also have to put it back if the user swears back that they do have the right to put that piece of work up, which will also shield the ISP for being responsible and put all the responsiblity on the user, who has now steped forward and identified themselves for easy suing...
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95%+ used for illegitimate activities
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We don't prosecute the makers of rolling paper just because people roll joints. Plenty of pre-rolled cigarettes are available at low cost.
We don't prosecute Aldrich, the primary provider of sodium cyanide, even though its product is deadly.
What legal grounds do you think you have to prosecute Kazaa? They don't advocate drug use or murder. File-sharing? OOOOOOH! Lord save society.
+++ATHZ 99:5:80
I see the term "safe harbor" a lot in American law. What is it actually supposed to mean, what is it's provenance, and where is it applied? So far it seems a very vague and generic catch-all, but it obviously has some specific meaning to the courts, and seems particularly meaningful in the context of the DMCA.
but people who really want to find that information will find it.
If one is interested in studying a "taboo" topic they'll join mailing lists as well. Especially in the case of religion and potential cults, nobody with any sense is going to just talk to one group. You're going to talk to members, ex members, and do your own studying.
You need to join message/news groups for that and the DMCA has no effect on those. The DMCA can't control what somebody sends to my e-mail account in response to a request for information.
Ben
Work Safe Porn
Of course I'm preaching to the choir here but I want ANYONE to point out to me how the DMCA is a GOOD law and what benefits it provides to society.
It stiffles progress. MOST everything in existence is the result of people taking things apart and improving upon previous designs.
DMCA puts that practice to a dead halt.
The DMCA should be abolished ASAP....
Actually that isn't quite correct. There is a split in the circuits. Grokster was ruled legal but Aimster was not. Judge Posner's argument for ruling Aimster illegal was the willful blindness to the activity of your users did not shield you from contributory infringement.
/ In ReAimster(9C6-30-03).htmw eblog/000940/ 000462.html
Clicky:
http://homepages.law.asu.edu/~dkarjala/cyberlaw
http://www.aaronsw.com/
http://www.musicpundit.com/archives
... is a search engine in a free country? ;)
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
Ok i've got some serious questions here:
1) If I link to a site that links to a site that has DMCA violating speech, does that mean my site is violating aswell? what about google? If so, how far does this chain go?
2) What if someone links to a google cache?
3) Can I say DMCA violating things to my lawyer? What about to a public court?
4) If I violate the DMCA outside America, will the FBI trick me into going to Rome and then drug me and take me back to the USA?
5) If I say something that violates the DMCA on national TV will viewers be breaking the law by watching, and will Tivo be breaking the law by recording it? will these people also require a trial?
6) If I wear DMCA violating clothing can the police confiscate it if it means i would be breaking public nudity laws? (ie it could be underwear too)
7) Im i allowed to violate the DMCA while engaged in sexual intercourse in the state of Florida? What if its consensual?
8) When praying, is it ok to attempt to tell God that the shift key will disable some CD copy-protection systems?
9) On violating the DMCA, certain evidence would be submitted to court, such as video/audio tapes containing said violation. Who owns this evidence, who can see it and how does the freedom of information act apply to it?
10) I thought of a way to circumnavigate X device, am I liable under the DMCA if the thought is in my head? what would happen if i talked about it in my sleep? Could i write about it in a private diary? an online journal? a letter?
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
and would be happy to answer any questions people have about it. --CWW
R>I.P. 321 Studios
I used the "dissatisfied? help us improve!" link at the bottom to register my complaint with google.ca
maybe if we got everyone submitting a complaint about it, they would reconsider.
They should do like what "Le Canard Enchaine" did during WWII.
What they did was whenever the Nazis wanted an article censored (which, given the nature of the newspaper was very often) instead of replacing it with another article they simply cut it out and left the space blank (except for a character with a huge pair of scissors representing the censors). The blanks in it were more telling than the remaining articles in that you knew how much the Nazis didn't want you to know (but not what of course).
Instead of putting the DMCA link at the end Google should put the search result where it would normally have been except replaced with:
"Due to a complaint(link to complaint containing the censored link) from $company citing the DMCA(link to more info) we cannot show you this result"
Or: "$company doesn't want you to know about that link so they invoked the DMCA(link) to silence us. Here is the complaint(link) where the tell us which links they don't want you to know about"
Or similar.
Still, what they do already is cool.
"The obvious mathematical breakthrough would be development of an easy way to factor large prime numbers." Bill Gates,