I don't agree that companies should be absolved of blame simply because they're acting in fear of a lawsuit. You are right, the DMCA is the culprit here but equ

I don't agree that companies should be absolved of blame simply because they're acting in fear of a lawsuit. You are right, the DMCA is the culprit here but equally disgraceful is the sheer cowardice on Google's part. They can afford to fight for their users and techno-utopian ideals but it's far cheaper to employ half-baked technological solutions instead.