Carol Archives - Vox Indie

Tag: Carol

Google’s “safe browsing” initiative is more bark than bite

by Ellen Seidler | Apr 12, 2016 | Ad Sponsored Piracy, Copyright, Film, Piracy | 0

Despite headlines, it’s still business as usual for Google — Piracy sites full of malware and deceptive ads top Google search

Last fall Google introduced a series of steps to strengthen its Safe Browsing initiative announcing it would include protection against, “social engineering attacks – deceptive tactics that try to trick you into doing something dangerous, like installing unwanted software or revealing your personal information (for example, passwords, phone numbers, or credit cards).
Sounds like a positive step against online piracy since malware and deceptive advertising is online piracy’s bread and butter right? WRONG…

Why does Google make it so damn difficult to send a DMCA notice?

by Ellen Seidler | Feb 24, 2016 | Copyright | 0

Google sets up roadblocks at every step of the DMCA process, doesn’t provide DMCA agent’s email address, and requires senders to login to a Google account

As the U.S. Copyright Office solicits public comments for its study to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the safe harbor provisions contained in section 512 of the (DMCA) Digital Millennium Copyright Act it’s worth examining how Google–the Sugar Daddy of pirate purveyors– openly skirts the law to obstruct the process at every turn.

Of course Google would have you believe it’s the victim when it comes to enforcing the DMCA. Its flacks regularly bleat about the millions of DMCA notices the company processes each week–a small price for profiting (indirectly) off the lucrative myriad of online exchanges it provides for pirated content. As I’ve written before, Google’s millions of takedowns is a “mess of its own making.”

What about those on the other end of the pipeline–the victims whose only recourse is to send a DMCA notice in order to have their (stolen) movies, music, books, etc. removed from Google websites? For these creators, Google’s DMCA process becomes a maze of twists and turns that, more often than not, leads back to the beginning.