Google
wants to be transparent... or is it just laughing down at the copyright
holders? This question springs to your mind first when you spare a
thought on how the search giant dishes itself up by supporting the Chilling Effects project. Is it just one of those odd coincidences or does Google actually foster copyright infringing links?
How Did It Come About?
The reason for the whole story to surface was the record complaint
numbers reported by Google for the week before last. According to the
company's
Transparency Report, the second week of July saw 719,416 URL removal requests, more than ever before, and the figures are still on the rise.
After the exciting news, tech media turned their faces to the website
where you can access the details of each and every copyright
infringement complaint coming to Google: Chilling Effects. It was after
people gave a closer look to the site when the whole absurd surfaced.
What is Chilling Effects?
Chilling Effects has been online since 2001. The project's initial
task was to dam up, at least partially, the negative consequences of
so-called cease-and-desist letters referring to any Web activities. In
practice, the cease-and-desist letters are primarily these DMCA
complaints that thousands of copyright holders send to Google requesting
to take down copyright-infringing webpages.
For example, you make a snapshot of your friend blowing bubbles out
of his nose and post it on Facebook. In a couple of days, you find your
photo posted on a commercial website, and you don't remember that its
owners have ever got in touch with you. In that case, you should submit
your DMCA complaint to Google and the search giant will remove any
mentions of the page with the infringing content from its services.
These cease-and-desist letters are in no way bad themselves. They
help artists from all over the globe earn their living with their
creative works by protecting their copyrights. It doesn't mean that it
can't be abused: it is abused by each and every large corporate
copyright holder. Instead of preventing the copyright content from being
illegally used, they often submit complaints about regular users like
you and me allegedly infringing someone's rights in seemingly legit
contexts. Under 'seemingly legit contexts' Chilling Effects understands
'express[ing] ... views, parody[ing] politicians, celebrating ...
movie stars, or criticiz[ing] businesses.' In other words, more often
than not, large corporations are out to get law-obidient users sharing
their opinions with other people, instead of real Web pirates.
Google Paradox
Google has been publishing all cease-and-desist letters it has
received since 2002 on Chilling Effects. Here comes the tricky part:
Google takes down all the mentions of the links complained about by
copyright holders and posts the complaint text afterwards. This text,
however, contains the links taken down, and Chilling Effects never stops
being indexed by Google. In other words, there still is a small
loophole for the infringing link to sneak into the Google search
results, namely through the Chilling Effects pages.
The only way to get this link taken down is to submit another complaint to Google, this time
about Chilling Effects
featuring illicit links. That's where the search company puts on a
troll face: it removes the link mentions from its services... and send
the report to Chilling Effects! The vicious circle closes.
Long story short, this transparency mechanism makes it impossible to
completely eradicate every mention of a copyright-infringing link from
Google. So, an experienced user armed with some search input skills can
easily find a direct link to any infringing content he or she wants. In
practical terms, it means that Google is indirectly supporting online
pirates... with the help of the copyright holders themselves! Ladies and
gentlemen, welcome to the absurd 21st century!
Picture Credit: wallpaper4me.com; torrentfreak.com
