There is a bit of a furore going on over a piece of code being leaked to the web that enables you to crack HD-DVDs. However, one of the blog posts/news articles includes a snippet of information that I am more interested in, because it highlights a big flaw in the strategy for moving your data into the Internet cloud. Snippet from a blog on Wired, documenting a takedown notice from Google to someone using their Google Notebook application (bold highlighting is mine):
… Google has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that content in your notebook Google Notebook Entry allegedly infringes upon the copyrights of others. The particular section of your notebook in question is the section covering www.digg.com/users/entangledstate/news/dugg …
…. If you do not do this within the next 3 days (by 4/30/07), we will be forced to remove your entire notebook. If we did not do so, we would be subject to aclaim of copyright infringement, regardless of its merits. We can reinstate this content into your blog upon receipt of a counter notification pursuant to sections 512(g)(2) and (3)of the DMCA…
Back in March, I wrote a post – Google and Microsoft looking alike – talking about Google’s strategy for getting us to use their online services for storing our data. If they are happy to act as big brother on behalf of people who use the DCMA as an easy form of censorship, will we be comfortable to hand over the keys to our information?
Take a simple scenario. I use Gmail for email. Someone sends me an email containing content that might infringe copyright. Google receives a notification from the copyright owner and issues notices similar to the one above with 3 days to comply. I happen to be on holiday and don’t check my email, so have not even read the allegeded offending email, let alone seen the takedown notice. When I return to work, my entire Gmail account has been deleted. What if I ran my entire business using Google services? Would they all be deleted too? Hmmm…
I last blogged about the DMCA in January 2006 – Post and be damned. The NewScientist magazine had published an article examining the use of the DMCA as a form of censorship. One study found that 47% of takedown notices concerned material that would likely have been deemed fair use. However, the DMCA enables content owners to issue takedown notices without having to go to court, placing the onus on the individual to legally challenge them. Targeting the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) has proven effective – they will simply remove the content unless the individual web site owner is prepared to finance a legal challenge to the notice. Picking on Google (and any other player in the web software/services playground) makes it even easier. Google can simply shrug and say ‘we have to do this or else we would be subject to a claim’. But the impact on the individual or organisation targeted is now even bigger. You don’t just lose your web site, you could lose your entire ability to do business if you rely on web-based services…
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