A few weeks ago my assistant editor at Utne notified me that someone had been republishing Utne material in total, without permission or so much as a credit line on Google’s Blogger. And of course, it was surrounded by Google AdSense ads.
I emailed a pretty terse infringement notice to the individual, Google’s abuse address, and the support address at Blogger.
Yesterday, two weeks later, I finally got a response from Blogger. To file a notice of infringement with Blogger, Google requires you to provide a written notice (no email allowed) along with the following:
“4. Include the following statement: ‘I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above on the allegedly infringing web pages is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.’
5. Include the following statement: ‘I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.’”
Blogger conveniently warns the copyright owner numerous times that false accusations are subject to damages:
“Please note that pursuant to that Act, you may be liable to the alleged infringer for damages (including costs and attorneys’ fees) if you materially misrepresent that you own an item when you in fact do not. Indeed, in a recent case (please see http://www.onlinepolicy.org/action/legpolicy/opg_v_diebold/ for more information), a company that sent an infringement notification seeking removal of online materials that were protected by the fair use doctrine was ordered to pay such costs and attorneys fees. The company agreed to pay over $100,000. Accordingly, if you are not sure whether material available online infringes your copyright, we suggest that you first contact an attorney.”
Let’s see if I have this straight. Blogger is owned by Google and it’s hosting of splogs has become the scourge of the blogosphere. And now it’s hosting sites that do nothing but steal the work and diminish the information authority of others. And to top it off, Google allows these scumballs to profit by selling Google AdSense ads around the purloined material. In fact, Google itself profits handsomely on the activity, all the while claiming to be a champion of fair use.
And if all that weren’t enough they issue thinly veiled threats about falsly accusing someone of copyright infringement when the material was lifted in wholesale fashion.
Oh, and then there’s that little matter in China. Not to mention the localized problem of retaining IP addresses tied to individual searches.
Do no evil my ass. Google has become that which it promised to avoid at all costs. And in record time. Of course making money without doing evil never did rise above number six on their list.
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