Whether you like the intercept or not I think we can all agree that bogus DMCA complaints (and the forced downtime even when you report the claim is bogus) needs to be stopped.
The core problem that makes incorrect and fraudulent claims possible is the complete absence of any penalty for such claims.
Until there is a penalty for a false claim we’ll keep seeing stuff like this.
Minor edit: I mean the core problem of the DMCA wrt false claims, not the core problem with the whole of the DMCA, which I would argue is the existence of the DMCA :D
Agreed. Our site was almost completely delisted a couple of months ago due to a completely fabricated claim.
https://playerassist.com/4000-playerassist-urls-removed-due-...
We’re still submitting the urls one by one. 10 days ago they said the complainant had 10 days to file suit or they would relist. Still waiting on relisting.
Unfortunately we didn’t generate the negative pr that the intercept was able to generate. And I’ll never know who did this either. Very frustrating
I think one of the problems is that content review requires human moderation, which takes some time to occur. So the question is what to do in the meantime? You can either default to leaving the content up or taking the content down. Both are problematic for different reasons.
No, human review isn’t a solution to the DMCA. The DMCA is absurd in the lengths it goes to encourage/force automatic acceptance of a claim. If you don’t comply with a claim, and it is later found that the claim was correct then you can be held liable. At the same time there is no penalty for false claims.
Basically the legal penalty if you auto comply is 0, and the penalty if you don’t is atmospheric. At the same time you have no way to recover legal fees for a lawyer to audit the takedown requests even if they are clearly fraudulent.
Successful claims under 512(f) are rare, but that doesn't mean the section doesn't exist. There certainly is a penalty for false claims brought in bad faith.
Online Policy Grp. v. Diebold, Inc., 337 F. Supp. 2d 1195, 1205 (N.D. Cal. 2004). The defendant subsequently settled for $125,000.
Automattic Inc. v. Steiner, 2015 WL 1022655 (N.D. Cal. March 2, 2015). Court awarded ~$25,000 in damages.
*Btw, I think you meant "stratospheric." I'm pretty sure the atmosphere is everywhere.
The core problem that makes incorrect and fraudulent claims possible is the complete absence of any penalty for such claims.
Until there is a penalty for a false claim we’ll keep seeing stuff like this.
Minor edit: I mean the core problem of the DMCA wrt false claims, not the core problem with the whole of the DMCA, which I would argue is the existence of the DMCA :D