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What a nightmare for the takedown-request teams at the online companies! Abuse of the court system is going to be very expensive and time-consuming for them to

What a nightmare for the takedown-request teams at the online companies! Abuse of the court system is going to be very expensive and time-consuming for them to assess. Contempt of court or perjury prosecutions of the originators of some of these fraudulent lawsuits might serve as a deterrent. A little jail time goes a long way.

greglindahl 10y ago
This is the 3rd nightmare for takedown teams, the first two are the DMCA and the Right to be Forgotten. Together, these are a huge barrier to entry for new search engines.
cortesoft 10y ago
That really isn't the job of the online companies. They have neither the legal authority nor the ability to act as judicial review for these cases.
wyager 10y ago
Innocent people should not be on the hook for the fact that the system is so broken that people can sue non-existent parties. It's fine if the courts make mistakes sometimes, but if they're too incompetent to correctly use the powers given to them, those powers need to be scaled back to a level commensurate with the courts' abilities.
- Thrillington 10y ago
  And what do you propose to replace them?
  - wyager 10y ago
    Why replace these functions of the court? Forced content removal has no place in a free society.
    - CPLX 10y ago
      > Forced content removal has no place in a free society. How about we post a very convincing article on what appears to be a respected local newspaper site claiming that you've been arrested for sexual relations with an animal, conduct some solid SEO on it, and then send you out into the job market? Perhaps you'd revise your views on this subject. Libel and slander are ancient common law principles for good reason.
      - wyager 10y ago
        No, I probably wouldn't. I don't trust any government party to determine the objective truth. Think about what you are advocating; you want to give the government power to erase content they claim is wrong. "You claim Duterte advocated extrajudicial hit squads? That's libel, take it down. Or else."
        CPLX 10y ago
        There's plenty of established precedent for this, and of course a head of state would qualify as a public figure under any libel or slander claim. I am strongly in favor of the first amendment, and would be opposed to prior restraint. None of those things have anything to do with the example I gave however.
      - jessaustin 10y ago
        This outlandish scenario reads to me like, "won't somebody please think of the children?" How could a normal person inspire such behavior? Having inspired it, what normal person could receive a satisfactory remedy through the courts? (Many people would seek that, but they'd often be disappointed...) Besides, this scenario only takes one step. Think it through a bit further. If such bizarre attacks become common, they'll lose their power because they'll no longer be believed. That would be a much better world than one in which lawyers must be hired every time an unsatisfactory restaurant review is written.
        CPLX 10y ago
        There's nothing hypothetical at all about using scandalous or embarrassing information about regular people to generate revenue. Some examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mug_shot_publishing_industry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mug_shot_publishing_industry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenda_Law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenda_Law

greglindahl 10y ago

This is the 3rd nightmare for takedown teams, the first two are the DMCA and the Right to be Forgotten. Together, these are a huge barrier to entry for new search engines.

cortesoft 10y ago

That really isn't the job of the online companies. They have neither the legal authority nor the ability to act as judicial review for these cases.

wyager 10y ago

Innocent people should not be on the hook for the fact that the system is so broken that people can sue non-existent parties. It's fine if the courts make mistakes sometimes, but if they're too incompetent to correctly use the powers given to them, those powers need to be scaled back to a level commensurate with the courts' abilities.

Thrillington 10y ago
And what do you propose to replace them?
- wyager 10y ago
  Why replace these functions of the court? Forced content removal has no place in a free society.
  - CPLX 10y ago
    > Forced content removal has no place in a free society. How about we post a very convincing article on what appears to be a respected local newspaper site claiming that you've been arrested for sexual relations with an animal, conduct some solid SEO on it, and then send you out into the job market? Perhaps you'd revise your views on this subject. Libel and slander are ancient common law principles for good reason.
    - wyager 10y ago
      No, I probably wouldn't. I don't trust any government party to determine the objective truth. Think about what you are advocating; you want to give the government power to erase content they claim is wrong. "You claim Duterte advocated extrajudicial hit squads? That's libel, take it down. Or else."
      - CPLX 10y ago
        There's plenty of established precedent for this, and of course a head of state would qualify as a public figure under any libel or slander claim. I am strongly in favor of the first amendment, and would be opposed to prior restraint. None of those things have anything to do with the example I gave however.
    - jessaustin 10y ago
      This outlandish scenario reads to me like, "won't somebody please think of the children?" How could a normal person inspire such behavior? Having inspired it, what normal person could receive a satisfactory remedy through the courts? (Many people would seek that, but they'd often be disappointed...) Besides, this scenario only takes one step. Think it through a bit further. If such bizarre attacks become common, they'll lose their power because they'll no longer be believed. That would be a much better world than one in which lawyers must be hired every time an unsatisfactory restaurant review is written.
      - CPLX 10y ago
        There's nothing hypothetical at all about using scandalous or embarrassing information about regular people to generate revenue. Some examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mug_shot_publishing_industry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mug_shot_publishing_industry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenda_Law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prenda_Law