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The takedown provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) — whereby a copyright owner is allowed to submit a good faith statement that the use of infringing material is not authorized and have it removed — was never meant to be a censorship bludgeon, but that’s precisely the purpose for which it’s being regularly used. Those offended by the statements of others regularly issue bogus DMCA takedown notices in hopes of having the offending material removed. As Gibson said, “the street finds its own use for things,” and not always in a good way.
In exchange for cooperating with legitimate DMCA takedown efforts, internet service providers are protected under the DMCA’s safe-harbor provision. But failing to comply with a legitimate DMCA takedown notice results in an automatic revocation of this safe-harbor protection. So, most internet service providers tend to takedown first and ask questions later, if ever.
Finally, Automattic — the company most closely associated with the WordPress content management system and the WordPress.com hosting service — has had enough with these bogus DMCA takedown notices that take up a lot of resources unnecessarily. Last November, WordPress decided the best way to deal with this fraudulent activity was to hit the fraudsters where it matters most — the wallet. The company collaborated with a student journalist to bring a lawsuit in California seeking to be compensated for damages caused by the fraudulent DMCA takedown notice.
Predictably, Ernesto Van Der Sar writing for TorrentFreak reports that the would-be censor filing the bogus DMCA takedown notice failed to respond to the legal action, so WordPress and the student journalist are requesting a default judgment, US$10,000 in damages, and US$14,520 in attorneys’ fees.
