Got this in my email inbox earlier today:
Blogger has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that certain content in your blog is alleged to infringe upon the copyrights of others. As a result, we have reset the post(s) to \"draft\" status. (If we did not do so, we would be subject to a claim of copyright infringement, regardless of its merits. The URL(s) of the allegedly infringing post(s) may be found at the end of this message.) This means your post - and any images, links or other content - is not gone. You may edit the post to remove the offending content and republish, at which point the post in question will be visible to your readers again.
A bit of background: the DMCA is a United States copyright law that provides guidelines for online service provider liability in case of copyright infringement. If you believe you have the rights to post the content at issue here, you can file a counter-claim. For more information on our DMCA policy, including how to file a counter-claim, please see http://www.google.com/dmca.html.
The notice that we received, with any personally identifying information removed, will be posted online by a service called Chilling Effects at http://www.chillingeffects.org
. We do this in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). You can search for the DMCA notice associated with the removal of your content by going to the Chilling Effects search page at http://www.chillingeffects.org/search.cgi, and entering in the URL of the blog post that was removed.
If it is brought to our attention that you have republished the post without removing the content/link in question, then we will delete your post and count it as a violation on your account. Repeated violations to our Terms of Service may result in further remedial action taken against your Blogger account including deleting your blog and/or terminating your account. If you have legal questions about this notification, you should retain your own legal counsel.
Sincerely,
The Blogger Team
Blogger has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that certain content in your blog is alleged to infringe upon the copyrights of others. As a result, we have reset the post(s) to \"draft\" status. (If we did not do so, we would be subject to a claim of copyright infringement, regardless of its merits. The URL(s) of the allegedly infringing post(s) may be found at the end of this message.) This means your post - and any images, links or other content - is not gone. You may edit the post to remove the offending content and republish, at which point the post in question will be visible to your readers again.
A bit of background: the DMCA is a United States copyright law that provides guidelines for online service provider liability in case of copyright infringement. If you believe you have the rights to post the content at issue here, you can file a counter-claim. For more information on our DMCA policy, including how to file a counter-claim, please see http://www.google.com/dmca.html.
The notice that we received, with any personally identifying information removed, will be posted online by a service called Chilling Effects at http://www.chillingeffects.org
. We do this in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). You can search for the DMCA notice associated with the removal of your content by going to the Chilling Effects search page at http://www.chillingeffects.org/search.cgi, and entering in the URL of the blog post that was removed.
If it is brought to our attention that you have republished the post without removing the content/link in question, then we will delete your post and count it as a violation on your account. Repeated violations to our Terms of Service may result in further remedial action taken against your Blogger account including deleting your blog and/or terminating your account. If you have legal questions about this notification, you should retain your own legal counsel.
Sincerely,
The Blogger Team
The post they are referring to was a post titled "What Makes A Relationship Healthy?" that I had posted on here a little over a year ago now. There are a couple things that don't sit right with me:
1.) I don't feel I did anything wrong, or at least nothing I haven't seen dozens of other blog writers do a bunch of times. I quoted a few snippets from an online article - only what I needed to get my point across - and made sure to give full credit to the author/source, including giving a link to the article online for those who wished to read the full article. As a "small potatoes" blog writer, you wouldn't think anyone would care about the couple dozen people reading the quoted snippets, particularly since I'm hardly getting any money from the post.
2.) I find it rather hard to believe that the original author/source of the online article just happened to stumble upon my puny blog and take such great offense at the few snippets I quoted.
It seems far MORE likely to me that someone - for some reason I feel in my gut this was NHS - filed the report either to cause trouble for me or because they didn't like what I'd said about them in the article.
According to Blogger, only someone with rights to the content can file a DMCA report but how exactly do they go about this? Does this mean that Blogger takes the time to investigate EVERY SINGLE REPORT filed to make sure the person making the accusation has the right to do so? Nothing against Blogger - they may well do just that - but I'm thinking it much more likely that they just ask, "Do you have ownership of this content and/or the right to claim it?" and if that person says, "Yep." that's good enough and considered "proof".
I clicked on the links provided to me but haven't been able to find anything at all regarding the claim, most important, who the hell filed it. Everything so far has come up "No Match Found", which is another thing I find curious.
I decided to delete the "used-to-be-post-now-draft" so as not to get into any further trouble. I kind of wish I hadn't done that now as it might be useful to be able to go back and re-read the post but, at the time, I saw no way to edit it in order to comply with the DMCA complaint and was afraid that, even saved as a draft, it might somehow show up on my blog and get me into more trouble.
What really freaks me out is that, according to what I've read online - what little I've been able to understand - the fact that this DMCA report was filed against me now means I have a "strike" against me. This "strike" is permanent and will now follow me everywhere I go online.
I'm so angry about this! If someone on here was upset by something, why didn't they just contact me via email like a mature adult and give me the chance to remove or edit the content first before taking (what I see as) such extreme measures and filing a DMCA report against me?
Did a bit of exploring. Being a writer, some writers are becoming more protective of their content. If they've received a contract for a book, they may be under contract to have material therein removed from the public. That being said, it could very well be someone who has no authority to make a complaint. Hackers are having a field day. Best wishes to you!
ReplyDeleteYeah, this doesn't sit well with me either...I've thought about this issue myself about my blog (what kind of "legal action" might someone try to take if they found my blog and didn't like the things I've said, even though I've quoted all my sources appropriately and been excruciatingly careful in my attempt to keep everything anonymous and protect identities)...sounds like someone doesn't like what you've had to say and decided to take it into their own hands.
ReplyDeleteThere should be some way that you could fight for your right as a blogger to be able to keep the offending material here, if you so chose.
Judy also makes a good point - there is a chance that the claim made was legitimate...but still...all the points you've made point to the contrary, at least in my mind.
Good luck. I don't like this one bit...
PS, I've had a message sent to me before from an individual who took issue with something I wrote and that person was considerate enough to express it in a message to me, rather than go through some crazy channels to make my life harder or hurt me in some way. That person just sent a message essentially saying, "Hey, I'm not okay with this...do you mind?" And I felt bad and removed the offending material and apologized, because it was warranted.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that I've read the post you wrote, but I highly doubt it was truly offensive or inappropriate. It REALLY sounds to me like someone just got their panties in a twist.
Wrote a post on what I have learned about copy right laws and the internet. Check it out if you would like.
ReplyDeletehttp://weareone-ruth.blogspot.com/2011/11/copy-rights-and-such.html
Believe me when I say they turned you in. If someone had a problem with what you wrote they usually will write to you letting you know what the problem is/was. The fact that nobody wrote you or said anything to you, and just turned you in doesn't make any sense. It's someone you know, and they don't like what your writing. The truth hurts.
ReplyDelete