7 ms·

I have some experience in this regard, and Google, even though it’s known for nonexistent human support, isn’t even the worst. I helped a Chinese creator friend

by oefrha 9mo ago

I have some experience in this regard, and Google, even though it’s known for nonexistent human support, isn’t even the worst. I helped a Chinese creator friend DMCA takedown a bunch of accounts on YouTube/Instagram/TikTok straight up stealing her content / impersonating her. TikTok’s response was fastest, one account was taken down within eight hours (to my pleasant surprise), another was taken down in three days. YouTube was all right, accounts were taken down in a week or so. Facebook/Instagram was the worst. They asked for the least info upfront in their takedown form, sent a bunch of follow up emails, then eventually just ghosted me. I initiated new email chains referencing the case ID but never heard from anyone. I had to negotiate with the account holder but that went nowhere either since my threat to take down the account turned out to be a joke. To this day the infringing account is still up.

alex1138 9mo ago
They 'trust me'. Dumb fucks https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1692122 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1692122
- alex1138 9mo ago
  Downvoters: I am suggesting that the lack of care by a CEO in his younger years translates directly in his older years as the company grows and reaches global proportions Example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14147719 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14147719 Use your brain for once, or else don't (please) work for any FAANG companies
  - duskdozer 9mo ago
    I'm for believing that people can change, but thinking that someone has changed requires some actual indication that they have changed
wisty 9mo ago
IANAL but if you send a DMCA notice and they ignore it, they are (partly) liable. That's the point of DMCA. File in a small claims court (or notify of your intent to do so) and see how long it takes to get a response ... I wonder if you could probably even suggest a fee for damages, wasted time, etc due to their slow response and hope it's cheaper than them getting a lawyer to assess it ... You would need to be the owner, and would know where to file though. If it's not your content, and you're "helping a friend" (but not actually legally representing them) then my guess is they haven't received a valid DMCA.
- dangus 9mo ago
  Not small claims court, big boy court. Copyright infringement fines are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per incident as in per download. OP needs to get a real lawyer and stop putzing around emailing a machine. If you want a human at Google you need to send letters from a law firm.
  - Animats 9mo ago
    > Not small claims court, big boy court. Right, it's federal, not state law. Also, register the copyright, assuming that's still working under the current administration. (Trump is trying to fire the head of the Copyright Office, which is part of the Library of Congress and doesn't report to Trump.)
- oefrha 9mo ago
  I was legally representing them. I had their photo ID and a signed legal authorization letter and screencasts of their private creator portal showing infringed works and dossier of side-of-side comparison of infringing URLs and original URLs with publishing timestamps highlighted. All the submitted documents were signed. It hardly gets more concrete than that.
  - wisty 9mo ago
    Other replies say it isn't small claims but a federal case, with large potential damages. Either way, ignoring dcma is asking to be sued. And you can't just block or ignore a court summons.
    - lazide 9mo ago
      I mean, you can block or ignore them if you’re sufficiently good at bullshitting, and they lose steam before figuring out your weak spot. Which statistically for the insurance industry happens with 90% or so of all claims. If you give yourself just enough plausible deniability to work around the penalties (or even if you don’t, if the math is in your favor enough!), at a minimum it can give you a boost for the next quarter, which is key.
kazinator 9mo ago
Fake DMCA requests that harass creators are far worse than not taking action in legitimate cases. The whole copyright policing thing should basically just die. Or have it be crowdsourced. If enough thousands of (distinct, genuine) viewers flag something as being a rip-off, then take action.
- jbstack 9mo ago
  I have a crazy idea... how about we take action on legitimate cases AND don't take action on fake ones?
  - TuringTest 9mo ago
    What precise process do you suggest to tell them apart at Google scale? That's the crux of the matter.
    - b112 9mo ago
      It is not the crux!! Large companies don't get to say they're too big, so therefore it is hard. Too damned bad! They can take advantage of scale, but not at the cost of breaking the law, or just doing their job improperly. If it makes service at scale difficult, well that's just too bad. Sucks to be them. Maybe a competitor will do better. No excuses because "oh poor widdle me, I'm too big"
      - TuringTest 9mo ago
        Who is going to stop them when they do the current shenanigans, and how are they going to enforce it?
        samat 9mo ago
        Legal system supposed to… Too bad it’s working only for the powerful. Marx was right about some things…
    - 9mo ago
user_7832 9mo ago
Did you contact Facebook/Instagram legal? Very often, companies suddenly start caring when they're concerned about lawsuits and legal exposure.
randomQ11333 9mo ago
yeah regarding facebook account takedowns... my wife had an FB account registered on her old phone number. she had that account deleted (but FB 'deactivates' them by default, instead of actually deleting it). her old number then got reassigned after a few years to a new person by the carrier. that person reactivated her account and started video-calling her relatives. aunts, cousins etc. and exposed himself to them. like literally all of her aunts have seen his dick by now. she submitted a takedown notice for impersonation. didn't get a reply. went to file a police report, sent that along with a new takedown application. no response. after some time we just gave up. we're not in the US, so i guess facebook just doesn't give a fuck and has these requests routed straight to the bin.

by oefrha 9mo ago

alex1138 9mo ago

They 'trust me'. Dumb fucks https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1692122 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1692122

alex1138 9mo ago
Downvoters: I am suggesting that the lack of care by a CEO in his younger years translates directly in his older years as the company grows and reaches global proportions Example: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14147719 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14147719 Use your brain for once, or else don't (please) work for any FAANG companies
- duskdozer 9mo ago
  I'm for believing that people can change, but thinking that someone has changed requires some actual indication that they have changed

wisty 9mo ago

IANAL but if you send a DMCA notice and they ignore it, they are (partly) liable. That's the point of DMCA. File in a small claims court (or notify of your intent to do so) and see how long it takes to get a response ... I wonder if you could probably even suggest a fee for damages, wasted time, etc due to their slow response and hope it's cheaper than them getting a lawyer to assess it ... You would need to be the owner, and would know where to file though. If it's not your content, and you're "helping a friend" (but not actually legally representing them) then my guess is they haven't received a valid DMCA.

dangus 9mo ago
Not small claims court, big boy court. Copyright infringement fines are in the hundreds of thousands of dollars per incident as in per download. OP needs to get a real lawyer and stop putzing around emailing a machine. If you want a human at Google you need to send letters from a law firm.
- Animats 9mo ago
  > Not small claims court, big boy court. Right, it's federal, not state law. Also, register the copyright, assuming that's still working under the current administration. (Trump is trying to fire the head of the Copyright Office, which is part of the Library of Congress and doesn't report to Trump.)
oefrha 9mo ago
I was legally representing them. I had their photo ID and a signed legal authorization letter and screencasts of their private creator portal showing infringed works and dossier of side-of-side comparison of infringing URLs and original URLs with publishing timestamps highlighted. All the submitted documents were signed. It hardly gets more concrete than that.
- wisty 9mo ago
  Other replies say it isn't small claims but a federal case, with large potential damages. Either way, ignoring dcma is asking to be sued. And you can't just block or ignore a court summons.
  - lazide 9mo ago
    I mean, you can block or ignore them if you’re sufficiently good at bullshitting, and they lose steam before figuring out your weak spot. Which statistically for the insurance industry happens with 90% or so of all claims. If you give yourself just enough plausible deniability to work around the penalties (or even if you don’t, if the math is in your favor enough!), at a minimum it can give you a boost for the next quarter, which is key.

kazinator 9mo ago

Fake DMCA requests that harass creators are far worse than not taking action in legitimate cases. The whole copyright policing thing should basically just die. Or have it be crowdsourced. If enough thousands of (distinct, genuine) viewers flag something as being a rip-off, then take action.

jbstack 9mo ago
I have a crazy idea... how about we take action on legitimate cases AND don't take action on fake ones?
- TuringTest 9mo ago
  What precise process do you suggest to tell them apart at Google scale? That's the crux of the matter.
  - b112 9mo ago
    It is not the crux!! Large companies don't get to say they're too big, so therefore it is hard. Too damned bad! They can take advantage of scale, but not at the cost of breaking the law, or just doing their job improperly. If it makes service at scale difficult, well that's just too bad. Sucks to be them. Maybe a competitor will do better. No excuses because "oh poor widdle me, I'm too big"
    - TuringTest 9mo ago
      Who is going to stop them when they do the current shenanigans, and how are they going to enforce it?
      - samat 9mo ago
        Legal system supposed to… Too bad it’s working only for the powerful. Marx was right about some things…
  - 9mo ago

user_7832 9mo ago

Did you contact Facebook/Instagram legal? Very often, companies suddenly start caring when they're concerned about lawsuits and legal exposure.

randomQ11333 9mo ago

yeah regarding facebook account takedowns... my wife had an FB account registered on her old phone number. she had that account deleted (but FB 'deactivates' them by default, instead of actually deleting it). her old number then got reassigned after a few years to a new person by the carrier. that person reactivated her account and started video-calling her relatives. aunts, cousins etc. and exposed himself to them. like literally all of her aunts have seen his dick by now. she submitted a takedown notice for impersonation. didn't get a reply. went to file a police report, sent that along with a new takedown application. no response. after some time we just gave up. we're not in the US, so i guess facebook just doesn't give a fuck and has these requests routed straight to the bin.