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Terrorists Used False DMCA Claims To Get Personal Data of Anti-Islamic Youtuber

An anonymous reader writes German newspaper FAZ reports (google translated version) that, after facing false DMCA claims by "FirstCrist, Copyright" and threatened by YouTube with takedown, a youtuber running the German version of Islam-critic Al Hayat TV had to disclose their identity in order to get the channel back online. Later, the channel staff got a mail containing a death threat by "FirstCrist, Copyright", containing: "thank you for your personal data. [...] take care your house gets police protection!" Employee names are now on Al Qaeda black lists.

39 of 389 comments (clear)

  1. Yay, humans! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The species and its imaginary friends are full of entertainment.

  2. Lol! by 3.5+stripes · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There must be some massive cognitive dissonance going on in media circles at the moment..

    --


    He tried to kill me with a forklift!
    1. Re:Lol! by drinkypoo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There must be some massive cognitive dissonance going on in media circles at the moment..

      That's assuming that these laws weren't intended to be bad from the beginning. Never assume and all that, sure, but just look at 'em.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:Lol! by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That's assuming that these laws weren't intended to be bad from the beginning.

      They were intended to have a low burden of proof, and little penalty for claimants in order to facilitate copyright holders protecting their profits.

      By design, us little people are expected to obediently comply so that our corporate copyright overlords can protect their interests.

      In this case, " bad " is in the eye of the beholder ... so all of us who watched this crap happen to the world, thought it was bad at the time, because it was so badly written.

      The copyright cartel and politicians who did this on their behalf (and got generous bribes/'contributions') ... they were having none about how their badly written laws were one-sided, unfair, and required far too little proof. To them, they were 'good' laws, because they entrenched protection for corporate profits.

      Lawmakers no longer care about if a law is 'good' or 'bad', or even some of the bad consequences which can be envisioned. All they care about is keeping their corporate overlords happy.

      So, in that regard ... mission accomplished!

      Shitty laws, passed by incompetent people, written by industry lobbyists, and then foisted on the rest of the world by the US government in order to protect the interests of multi-national corporations, to the detriment of everyone else on the planet.

      Thanks, America ... this really is your fault.

      I really hope that this is a wake up call about just how terrible some of these laws actually are. Because most of them are so one sided as to be laughable (if it wasn't so draconian).

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    3. Re:Lol! by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Well, there's the whole US threatening trade retaliations to countries which didn't.

      Yes, those other countries passed the laws.

      But, yes, the US government applied pressure on those governments to more or less force them to pass into law things which had been written by industry representatives.

      So, yes, I do blame US foreign policy, and the fact that your government is so beholden to the copyright cartel that you more or less shoved this crap down the throat of the rest of the world.

      America has hitched their cart to IP, and has been trying to ensure the world does the same. The badly written, one-sided laws which favor corporations, and don't require proof or accountability ... that was pretty much the US.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  3. Trying to wrap my head around this by rebelwarlock · · Score: 5, Informative

    So someone submits a false DMCA, and Youtube accepted this without requiring any proof. They then forced the youtuber to provide proof that it wasn't a copyright violation. They then provided said youtuber's personal information to the person submitting a false DMCA.

    What in the actual fuck?

    1. Re:Trying to wrap my head around this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Youtube and other service providers have to accept it whenever they don't have proof if they want to be safe. I am pretty sure youtube actually did everything they were required to do by law here and nothing more. Which just tells you how fucking awful the DMCA is.

    2. Re:Trying to wrap my head around this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      This is exactly what happens. It's not just baddies, corporations do it thousands of times a day. Until DMCA takedown requests are required to submit proof of ownership and have escalating penalties for false/fraudulent claims, this situation will only get worse.

      People also lose their accounts. Google won't even tell the people why their Youtube channels have been deleted. You'll get a vague "broke terms", but the reality is people hiding in their corporations do it daily.

      And before any of you wankers say "it's a free service, who gives a shit", please GFYS.

    3. Re:Trying to wrap my head around this by sosume · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'd say YouTube faces a hefty compensation, a fine and a criminal investigation. For disclosing personal information, possibly leading to attempted murder, and breaching privacy laws. But. Somehow they cannot trace the accounts posting videos of atrocities.

    4. Re:Trying to wrap my head around this by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

      Youtube and other service providers have to accept it whenever they don't have proof if they want to be safe. I am pretty sure youtube actually did everything they were required to do by law here and nothing more.

      That assumes that there always is an option that doesn't violate any laws. Considering that Germany has pretty strict privacy laws I'm guessing that they are violating laws no matter what they do here.
      They decided to go with the variant where they screw over the little guy rather than show the finger to the copyright industry because it is the path of least resistance. As a result they provided Al Qaeda with a useful tool.

      There is of course a way to follow the laws. Instead of having an automated service they could do the work necessary to validate copyright claims. They chose not to because profits are more important than not hurting people or following the laws.

    5. Re:Trying to wrap my head around this by Attila+Dimedici · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That is actually how the DMCA is written to work.

      --
      The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
    6. Re:Trying to wrap my head around this by AmiMoJo · · Score: 4, Informative

      Indeed, EU privacy laws make this kind of disclosure a very serious matter. At best they should be looking at a massive fine, at worst they could have their permission to store personal data revoked and be forced to delete all personal data held about Europeans.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    7. Re:Trying to wrap my head around this by gstoddart · · Score: 3, Interesting

      But, ya know, profits above all, right?

      This is precisely the stance of the US on such things, and why they've been pushing other countries to adopt IP laws which are even stricter than they've been able to pass domestically.

      So, yes, profit above all is precisely why we have terribly written laws, with low evidentiary threshold, very little recourse when companies use it incompetently/maliciously, and which more or less say "if you comply, we won't grind you into dust ... if we're morons or lying, there's no penalty for us".

      While nobody saw these laws being used by terrorists, at least not that I'm aware, the holes in these laws you could drive fleets of trucks through have been known from the start.

      But the copyright cartels have bought and paid the politicians who created these laws, and foisted them on the world. Because the entire process around copyright has made lawmakers beholden to corporate profits, and protecting them before people.

      So, yes, if the mere threat of a DMCA(/whatever treaty in your country) causes companies to take action with ABSOLUTELY ZERO PROOF and NO RECOURSE ... this is exactly what you get.

      The laws weren't written with the intent of being challenged, or with any proof required on behalf of the claimant. Everything presumes that all of us are guilty, and that the copyright people would be able to legally skirt around the niceties because it was convenient for them. False claims are nothing more than an "oops".

      Welcome to the global oligarchy, my friend. The loopholes they paid to have put in for themselves are exploitable by someone else who knows the secret to navigating around them.

      But these weaknesses have pretty much been built into them by design. Because the people who bought them wanted it that way.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  4. Re:Typical muslims by Wootery · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I'm sure you get this all the time, but really: there's no call for the generalisation.

  5. Re:Typical muslims by janoc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Thank you for demonstrating your blatant racism and ignorance.

    You do realize that there is 1.6 billion of people that are muslims in the world, spread out over the most of the globe? Your comment is like saying that we should ban all Christians from having human rights, because they are Bible thumping bigots opposing gays and abortions.

    Please, do educate yourself before you open your mouth next time.

  6. Solution- DMCA Permit by Tyr07 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The solution is to require anyone that wishes to submit DMCA requests has to have a DMCA license number and be registered with the country that the company resides in for the lawful take down.

    That way youtube can confirm that the email address and license number match the organization that is requesting the DMCA.
    To confirm the validity of the email, a random string is sent back and needs to be replied, or a link sent to the email that they have to click on to complete the DMCA.

    Make it cost prohibitive to get a license so that only proper organizations can do this. If people monkey around, they get their license revoked and have to re-apply and risk being banned from receiving a license.

    Problem solved, DMCA requests become more sane.

    1. Re:Solution- DMCA Permit by l0n3s0m3phr34k · · Score: 4, Insightful

      that makes way too much sense, therefor will never be allowed in either the US or the EU.

    2. Re:Solution- DMCA Permit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      This will never happen. The DMCA was written specifically to allow fraudulent take-down notices to be issued. The perjury provisions in the law apply only to whether the filer is an authorized agent of the person he claims to represent.

      If I claim to be sony I would commit perjury. But if I work for sony, I can claim that any video violates sony's copyright without it being perjury.

    3. Re:Solution- DMCA Permit by Tyr07 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I didn't mean a price way out of bounds, but say, 1000$, so people won't DMCA everything they see as those thousands add up really quickly if they're doing it wrongfully.

      But also that applying for a license can be a process, where you investigate the applying company before approving it. If there are signs that this is the same people who did false DMCA's before, you just deny their license.

      It's not perfect and won't work 100% of the time, but it would certainly help.

    4. Re:Solution- DMCA Permit by TapeCutter · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The current law is broken, there is no need for the law to require YT to give away the personal info of either side to anyone other than a judge - but your answer is "fuck the little guy"?

      --
      And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  7. Re:Typical muslims by Vinegar+Joe · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Opposing gays and abortions isn't quite the same as selling them as sex slaves or beheading them, is it?

    --
    "The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
  8. Re: Typical muslims by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    No, but this isn't really an isolated incident now is it? This shit happens all the time, and it's always Muslims.
    http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/pages/opinion-polls.htm

    It's a problem, and a big one. Can we please stop pretending otherwise?

  9. I thought the DMCA is American Law by TrollstonButterbeans · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How does American Law apply to Europeans and people in Germany --- or do US companies carry the American flag with them when they provide services in Europe and such?

    --
    Priest: "Universe from nothing, no laws of physics, sped up time"+ huge discrepancies. Creationism? No. Big Bang Theory
    1. Re:I thought the DMCA is American Law by Charliemopps · · Score: 5, Insightful

      How does American Law apply to Europeans and people in Germany --- or do US companies carry the American flag with them when they provide services in Europe and such?

      By treaty.

    2. Re:I thought the DMCA is American Law by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Interesting

      European companies get a lot of legal threats from the US, especially DMCA take-downs. It's got so bad I set up dmca@ my domains to automatically reply with "wrong country fuckwad", just in case any of them are not coming from bots. I get various threats to sue me too... Well, good luck with that. Even if your stupid court decides to try and grab jurisdiction the ruling will have no meaning to me, and I never wanted to visit your stupid country anyway.

      It's incredible to think how much money these people pissed away on lawyers without even bothering to figure out if I was in the same country as them.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re:I thought the DMCA is American Law by Charliemopps · · Score: 5, Informative

      Google is your friend:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W...

      The DMCA is the US's implementation of the WIPO treaty. WIPO is the treaty that all signing parties agreed to, the DMCA is the law that enforces it in the US. Each signing party would have their own law to enforce the treaty. You'd have to look at individual laws in the member-states of the EU to know which particular law enforces the treaty there.

      And now you know... and knowing is half the battle!

    4. Re:I thought the DMCA is American Law by SuricouRaven · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I'm still blaming the US though, as they were the main party pushing for anti-circumvention and notice-and-takedown provisions to be included in the treaty.

  10. Remember what this tells us about the terrorists by Bruce66423 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They are so frightened of the truth, or the freedom to spread information, that they have to scare people into not doing it.

  11. Re:Typical muslims by Luckyo · · Score: 5, Informative

    Okay. Anti-Balaka Chrstian militias in CAR.

    Those guys make IS look tame. French peacekeepers were talking about Christian mob going door to door and taking entire families apart with machetes until there were effectively almost no muslims left in the country. They either fled or were killed. They even forced Chad's peacekeepers of muslim faith to flee alongside other muslims.

    Hilariously, Anti-Balaka means "no sword" or "no machete".

  12. So DMCA has helped terrorists by Roodvlees · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I wonder if there will be push back against the DMCA system now that it helped terrorists. Like there has been push back against encryption.

    --
    Thank you, Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden and so many others, for courageously defending humanity, my freedom and more!
  13. Re:Typical muslims by Oligonicella · · Score: 3, Informative

    Now compare numbers, both raw and percentage to Islam. You are also conveniently ignoring both the fact that they aren't exclusively Christian (shooting your implication that it's a religious movement) and the reason they developed in the first place - Islamic take over of CAR and terrorism. The very first sentence on the Wiki page in the History section: "The anti-balaka militias originally formed in the 1990s as village self-defense forces."

  14. Re: Typical muslims by Transfinite · · Score: 4, Insightful

    need I go on?

    Yes please do, because if you want a numbers game I think you know that by far Islam is massively guilty here, So I'll be waiting.

    The crusades were a reaction to the atrocities that Islam was engaged with CENTURIES, not decades but centuries in the Mediterranean & middle east, just like we are seeing now with ISIS. You know murder, torture, slaving all the sorts of things that are considered in-human. Come on the battle of Tours was in 732 [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B... ]. We were trying to wipe them out and for good reason.

    The problem is that the issue IS with Islam, it is the problem, because you see Mohamed is meant to be the perfect man?! Really? How can a rapist, murdering, pedophile possibly be perfect? All muslims are taught to be like him. For example some of the great examples muslims follow Mohamed forces a 17 yr old Jewish girl called Safiyyah to marry him and rapes her on the same day her husband and family are killed in the battle of Khaibar (Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 5, Book 59, Number 522, Volume 1, Book 8, Number 367).

    You know everything that is being done by these muslim terrorist (Al-nasura, ISIS, Boko haram, etc.....) All of it comes from the Quran, every bit of it. Try and do that with the new testament.

    Political? Islam is a political system you fool!

    So the issue fundamentally IS ISLAM, is Mohamed, his teachings and more importantly his behaviour. OK here's a snip for you to think about:

    http://www.raymondibrahim.com/...

    A Muslim state must [first] attack a Christian state—sorry, I mean any non-Muslim state—and they [the women, the future sex-slaves] must be captives of the raid. Is this forbidden? Not at all; according to Islam, sex slaves are not at all forbidden. Quite the contrary, the rules regulating sex-slaves differ from those for free women [i.e., Muslim women]: the latter’s body must be covered entirely, except for her face and hands, whereas the sex-slave is kept naked from the bellybutton on up—she is different from the free woman; the free woman has to be married properly to her husband, but the sex-slave—he just buys her and that’s that.

    Oh did you notice the freudian slip she made as well?

  15. Re:Typical muslims by Chrisq · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Unfortunately there are indeed Muslim countries in which the majority of people support killing apostates, yes. (Afghanistan, for instance.)

    That doesn't make Chrisq's bullshit any less unreasonable, though. Muslims in Western countries tend not to be like that.

    You have to bear in mind that following Muhammad's example, as they have done throughout the world, they will apear friendly and attempt to undermine societies until they have sufficient forces for a violent uprising. Lets hope that when it happens it will go the way of Spain, not Egypt, Libya, Afghanistan, and many more.

    Look at statistics like the fact that more European Muslims have joined Islamic state than their country's armed forces (it may be true in the US also, I don't know) and you get an idea of what these "peaceful" muslims in the west think.

  16. the problem is elsewhere by v1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Google isn't the problem here, they did exactly what was expected of them. The law itself ("safe harbor") isn't really a problem either. The problem is that there's no meaningfull check and balance. It's a very one-sided thing. The law wasn't written by all parties invoved, it was written singlehadedly with one side's interests in mind.

    If someone cries "rape!" and gets a man arrested, and then we find out that it was just a girl scorned that didn't like her BF had cheated on her, SHE is now up for legal charges "filing a false statement" as well as a target for a civil suit.

    No such balance exists with DMCA. Anyone can file a DMCA claim, and the recipient is legally obligated to take action. They're not [i]required[/i] to take action, but if they don't, they accept legal responsibility if the DMCA filing was lawful. So it's not really "optional" for them, even though it may appear so.

    Then, if the filing turns out to be iffy, inaccurate, or even deliberaly misleading, there are NO penalties or liabilities of any kind for the person that filed the fraudulent DMCA notice.

    This has several effects, and only some of them are really noticed. First, the victim has no recourse. They have no legal basis to sue the filer. No law has been broken, so law enforcement has no teeth either. But it doesn't stop there. The victim's only possible relief is a civil suit against the middleman tha received the notice. (google in this case) They have a pretty good defense since they can argue (as above) that although not legally obligated, they actually WERE obligated, indirectly. Also, google has no recourse against the filer. If they have to stage a legal defense against the victim, it's on their nickel, they can't recover any of the costs from the filer because google acted "voluntarily".

    The only way out of this for google is to do research before acting on the notice. This causes all sorts of problems because not promptly taking the material down forfeits their protection, and there will be a cost to this, which is unrecoverable, regardless of the outcome.

    Provisions for accountability need to be added to the law. Not so much to protect the victim, but to protect the intermediary, so they can act in the victim's best interst instead of as the filer's whipping dog. Do that, and it would (A) reduce the number of false claims, (B) make people think more carefully about filing a claim, (C) give the intermediaries some teeth to go after fraudulent filings. Once that's in place, the back end of the process will only be activated when there's a much better change it's necessary and appropriate.

    Looking to change the back end of this process just isn't productive. The changes need to be made in the middle.

    --
    I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
    1. Re:the problem is elsewhere by Kjella · · Score: 3, Informative

      The law itself ("safe harbor") isn't really a problem either.

      Actually the law is the problem here, USC 17512:

      (g)(3) Contents of counter-notification
      (D) The subscriber's name, address, and telephone number, (...)

      combined with (g)(2)(B):

      (B) upon receipt of a counter notification described in paragraph (3), promptly provides the person who provided the notification under subsection (c)(1)(C) with a copy of the counter notification

      There's no provision to keep your identity a secret, so anyone willing to commit DMCA fraud can reveal who their opponent is. Note that the DMCA only cares about the service provider's liability and their ability to recover costs from fraudulent notices. It it not a shield for the accuser, if you want to sue them for "filing a false statement" you can. But just like taking you to court and being wrong generally isn't a crime, neither is a wrongful DMCA notice unless you can prove it was deliberately false. At any rate it's unlikely it would help here, the courts would probably never manage to pursue it while they already got what they wanted.

      The purpose of providing this counter-notice is that you now have a dispute (claimant and counter-claimant) that the courts would like to see settled outside of court. That part should have been optional and shouldn't need to involve revealing your identity though. I think it's reasonable that your personal information is part of your counter notice and kept in escrow at the service provider to avoid "Mickey Mouse" filing counter notices, but you should get one of three choices when it comes to passing it on:

      a) Use your contact information as legal contact address, like today. Basically, you represent yourself.
      b) Provide a legal contact address, basically your lawyer and a case ID but which doesn't reveal who you are.
      c) Decline to provide a legal contact address, see you in court. They can subpoena your identity if they want.

      As it is though, the DMCA makes this form of abuse of process essentially required for the parties involved.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  17. Re:Typical muslims by pushing-robot · · Score: 3, Funny

    I agree, albeit in the general sense. There's a group of mentally deranged humans that make the other 5% look bad.

    --
    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
  18. Re: Typical muslims by sociocapitalist · · Score: 5, Informative

    No, but this isn't really an isolated incident now is it? This shit happens all the time, and it's always Muslims.
    http://www.thereligionofpeace....

    It's a problem, and a big one. Can we please stop pretending otherwise?

    It is not always Muslims.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J...
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B...

    Etc.

    --
    blindly antisocialist = antisocial
  19. Re:Typical muslims by Transfinite · · Score: 3, Interesting
    You mean Taqiyya, which is why unfortunately I feel very slow to trust Muslims & I sincerely wish that was not so:

    “Taqiyya” is the religiously-sanctioned doctrine, with its origins in Shi’a Islam but now practiced by non-Shi’a as well, of deliberate dissimulation about religious matters that may be undertaken to protect Islam, and the Believers. A related term, of broader application, is “kitman,” which is defined as “mental reservation.” An example of “Taqiyya” would be the insistence of a Muslim apologist that “of course” there is freedom of conscience in Islam, and then quoting that Qur’anic verse — “There shall be no compulsion in religion.” {2:256} But the impression given will be false, for there has been no mention of the Muslim doctrine of abrogation, or naskh, whereby such an early verse as that about “no compulsion in religion” has been cancelled out by later, far more intolerant and malevolent verses. In any case, history shows that within Islam there is, and always has been, “compulsion in religion” for Muslims, and for non-Muslims.”Kitman” is close to “taqiyya,” but rather than outright dissimulation, it consists in telling only a part of the truth, with “mental reservation” justifying the omission of the rest. One example may suffice. When a Muslim maintains that “jihad” really means “a spiritual struggle,” and fails to add that this definition is a recent one in Islam (little more than a century old), he misleads by holding back, and is practicing “kitman.” When he adduces, in support of this doubtful proposition, the hadith in which Muhammad, returning home from one of his many battles, is reported to have said (as known from a chain of transmitters, or isnad), that he had returned from “the Lesser Jihad to the Greater Jihad” and does not add what he also knows to be true, that this is a “weak” hadith, regarded by the most-respected muhaddithin as of doubtful authenticity, he is further practicing “kitman.

  20. Re: Typical muslims by CauseBy · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm not really convinced by that argument:

    "Hey remember that one time that one guy killed some people and said that it was for Jesus? Yeah, that means Christians are as bad as Muslims, who in the meantime have committed tens of thousands of separate suicide attacks."

    Today in the world, most terrorism comes from the Muslim community. Nobody gets to claim that that factual statement implies that all Muslims are terrorists, because that's not what the statement says. Anyone who makes that false claim concedes all credibility.

    A majority of worldwide Muslims support death as a punishment for apostasy. If you think death-for-apostasy is bad, and if you think majority support within a group for a certain policy makes it fair to discuss that policy in terms of that group, then it is fair to say that "Muslims support death for apostates".

    Compare that to the statement "Republicans support restrictions on abortion". Is that a true statement? I consider it to be true even though not every last Republican supports restrictions on abortion. When discussing groups, we don't have to account for every last member of the group. If we did, it would be impossible to discuss groups.

    The Muslim community has problems -- moral problems. The community generally supports some incredibly horrible things. It is wonderful that some Muslims are not horrible, especially many or most of those who now live in Western countries, as well as a minority of those living in Islamic countries. I hope that that minority grows into the majority someday, but today they are still a minority, and it is fair to discuss Muslims as a group and policies supported by the majority of Muslims.

    Muslims as a group support death for apostasy.
    Muslims as a group are opposed to rights for women.
    Muslims as a group are opposed to rights for homosexuals.
    Muslims as a group support blasphemy laws.

    Some Muslims don't support those things; most do.